Pokewing Z: Dimension Rifters
by Kuwabara Shizuru
Summary: A transdimensional plot by an entity known only as "The Unmaker" threatens to destroy all human life, and only a handful of people from various dimensions can stop it. Season 3 has begun! Vlad hires Zenki to assassinate the still-missing Ash Ketchum as the Ghost Police arrives to capture Jazz... M for swears and implied sexuality, yo.
1. Chapter 1

_PokeWing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 1_

A mega-crossover fanfiction by Dustin Dixon and Caleb McGlone, with help from Rob Volske.

Disclaimer:We own very little in this story. About the only characters I(Dustin) own are Janine and Wayne. Distribution of this story without our consent will result in several hollow bullets being lodged in your brain. Actually, we'll sue for semi-copyright infringment, though you can nail us on the same grounds. Just...ask if you want to distribute the story, okay? Speaking of stories...let's get on with this one!

The room was brightly lit, as the three friends charged up the stairs leading to it. The lead one, a raven-haired teenager, looked around for anything in the room aside from the three of them. "Looks like the coast is clear! Come on, you two!", he said.  
"Ash, watch yourself. They could be anywhere.", said the one on his left, a weird boy with snow-white hair,  
and glowing green eyes. He wore a black jumpsuit, colored white in various places. He was looking anxiously around the room.  
Ash nodded, looking over at the third and final friend, a girl with long red hair and blue eyes. She wore a black long-sleeve shirt, and blue jeans. She had a determined expression on her face. "Ash, Danny, let's do this.", she said, "We're almost there!"  
"Right.", the teenage boy known as Ash said, "Jazz, if you want to turn back now..."  
"Don't say another word...", the redheaded girl, Jazz, said, "You know what my answer is gonna be."  
"Should have known...", Ash replied. The three charged their way up a flight of stairs. Danny, the glowing-eyed boy, flew ahead slightly, and spotted a door.  
"Guys!", Danny shouted, "Up ahead! We made it!"  
"Here we go!", Ash said, raising his arm defensively, as if crouching behind a shield of some sort. As he raced toward the door,  
everything began to get brighter. He suddenly came to a stop, then started to feel dizzy. He could hear Danny and Jazz calling out to him, but their voices now sounded very different.  
"Ash! Ash!"  
Fourteen-year old Ash Ketchum awoke with a start. His eyes gazed up, up into the eyes of his sweetheart, fifteen-year old Misty Williams. "Your watch has been beeping for a good half hour now, sleepy-head!", she said, with a heavy sigh.  
"Huh? Oh...OH CRAP! HALF AN HOUR!", Ash shouted. He raced out of his room, downstairs, and out the front door as fast as his legs could carry him. He then quickly checked to make sure no one would be listening in on what was about to happen. Pushing a button on his watch, he spoke up. "Ash here, Enma sir! What'dja want?", Ash asked.  
"One half-hour...I couldn't reach you for HALF AN HOUR.", Enma, lord of the Spirit World, stated, while maintaining a straight face.  
"Geez, I fell asleep! I didn't know that was illegal!", Ash said defensively.  
"It is! At least, when something big is going down!", Enma answered.  
"What?", Ash asked, "What could POSSIBLY be going down right now!"  
"How about our old friend Wayne? Remember him?", Enma asked, with an exaserpated sigh.  
"Hold on a sec...you mean the guy I sent to jail, a month ago?"  
"Did you really think he couldn't break and/or bribe his way out?"  
"Of course I considered that. But why is it such a big deal that he's out? I kicked his butt before, I'll kick it again."  
"The reason it's so big is because he's found two items that could very well destroy the world."  
"That serious, eh"  
"Exactly! You know that Wayne would take any chance he could get to destroy the world"  
"He won't do it. I'm gonna stop him."  
"If your confidence is any indication of your ability, you won't have a problem with him, but I wouldn't get arrogant, Ash." When Ash just kept a sraight face, Enma sighed and continued. "Therefore, it will probably please you to know that we do have some knowledge about Wayne that would help you."  
"I'm listening." Ash said dully.  
"First and foremost, we do know that Wanye did not break out from that prison on his own. He had outside help, Ash, which means he's not alone. Be careful when pursuing him this time."  
"I could easily take on a few--"  
"I'm not done yet, young man. I haven't even gotten to the lead." Enma scolded him.  
"Alright, get on with it then."  
"We do have a lead on his location."  
"Good, let's hear it." By now, Ash had sat down on a couch, for he expected this to be a long briefing.  
"Do you remember that area on the other side of town with the abandoned Rocket Base?"  
"Of course."  
"Well, for starters, I sensed something strange coming from the base late last night. The worst part was, I could not identify it. I was able to get opinions from townsfolk, you know they sometimes see things we don't, and they agreed that something shady seemed to be going on near that base."  
"You sure you ain't just stumbled on to some Rocket work? That is a prime location to get a base going again. Quite frankly I can't see why the base was abandoned in the first place." The minute Enma spoke, Ash knew that his words weren't even a possiblity.  
"It was Wayne, we are sure of it. No Rocket would have energy that strong. Anyway, that's where we get to your assignment."  
"Oh joy, my favorite part." Ash leaned back and kicked his feet up on a table in front of him. "Let me guess, I have to go check out the Rocket Base and search it for any trace of Wayne."  
"You catch on pretty quick." Enma tried to lighten up the mood with the comment. "Oh, and there is one more thing, Ash. You will be going alone."  
"I can't just take Janine and bomb the place with Spirit Guns galore?"  
"That's the very point, Ash. We don't know for sure that Wayne is working alone this time. If you find yourself outnumbered, then it's a lot easier for one person to sneak in and out than it is for two."  
"So basically, you're just sending me in for reconissance."  
"If that's how you want to say it." Enma saw the bland look on Ash's face. "Don't be like that, Ash. You can't underestimate Wayne. And wether you like it or not, this is procedure. I expect a full report by tonight. I'm out."  
With that, the watch went off, and reverted back to a normal watch. Ash had his assignment, and he was ready to go. 'After all,', he thought, ' it might be fun to have another go around with Wayne.' Ash smiled to himself as he got up to go eat breakfast with Misty and his mom, Delia.

Ash Ketchum was walking down the East Side of Pallet Town, the industrial side, so to speak, where he could find his destination, the Abandoned Team Rocket Base where his nemesis, Wayne, was supposedly lying in wait for him.'Sent me alone,', Ash thought. 'Maybe...maybe it's because he thinks I can handle this alone. Yeah, yeah that's logical. I took care of Wayne once before, no reason I can't do it again. Not a thing to worry about.' He had a large grin painted on his face, when soon, he found himself in the shadow of the Rocket base.He looked around. It was a relatively quiet day. Not many people at all, with the exception of the occasional car driving by. Ash figured he could just walk through the front door, and that was precisely what he did. Placing his hands on the large, steel knobs, he pulled down, and pushed the warehouse door open, which did so with a loud creak. Ash quickly shut the door behind him. He noticed that he was standing in what would have been a lobby. Then, he turned around, and immediately found exactly what he had been sent after. Standing 15 feet away from Ash, with a large smirk on his grungy face, was Wayne Williams. Ash momentarily stood in a battle stance, but then relinquished it when he saw what Wayne was sadistically staring at. Two items, two pedestals, stood in front of him. Then, Wayne spoke."Ash, Ash, Ash," Wayne said, with a tone of disappointment in his voice. "You shouldn't have come here, Ash.""I came to stop you, Wayne, and that's what I'm going to do." Ash's voice was rather hostile."Stop me? Not likely, this time. Now, you see THIS?" With a huge jerk of his left arm, and pulled what was in the first pedestal. A Golden, jagged sword. He held it above his head, as if showing it off.  
"And, THIS?" A smiliar jerk of his right hand, and he bent over and grabbed what sat on the second pedestal in one motion. He now wore on his hand a golden bracelet. There were mysterious marks all over it. Wayne held them both up, before dropping them down to torso level. "The Rift Sword and The Rift Bracelet." He named them. "These--"  
"I know exactly what they are!" Ash inturrupted. "They're what you're planning to use to destroy the world. Well, if you think two little toys are going to help you beat me again, you have something hard and painful coming." Ash paused. Nothing for a moment, then, a small murmur from Wayne, which turned to a giggle, then Wayne was flat out laughing at Ash. He stopped.  
"Foolish little boy." Wayne spoke, his voice now arrogant. "You think that I would need THESE? No, no, no, my boy. These are meerly tools for what I really need done, as you will see. As I am about to show you, right now." Wayne raised his right arm up into the air, and the Rift Bracelet began to glow. Wayne spoke something in an unidentifiable language, then suddenly, the whole room was bright. "Like that, do ya?" Wayne smirked. "Then, are you ready for THIS!"  
Without warning, Wayne slashed the Rift Sword in mid air. Nothing happened at first.  
"Trying to scare me, are you Wayne?" Ash commented, stepping towards Wayne. "Well, it'll take a lot more than that to--" Ash froze. He saw before him, the air. But there was something different. Where Wayne had made the slash with the Rift Sword, a large rip was there. through it, he saw blackness, and white dots, and rifting colors, everything different. Ash had no idea what to make of it as he stood there with his mouth wide open. Wayne looked intensley satisfied.  
"Do you know what this is, Ash? Do you? I have done it, by God, I have done it! I have opened THE DIMENSIONAL RIFT!"  
As Wayne basked in his glory, something happened. The sword suddenly became superheated, causing him to drop it on the ground with a loud cry of pain. "Wh-- what the HELL is going on!"  
"Ash!", shouted a voice from the watch on Ash's wrist, which could have only come from Enma himself, "Get that sword!"  
"Right!", Ash said, then he dived for the sword. Amazingly, when he grabbed it, it wasn't hot at all. It felt almost exactly like his Soul Sword, as a matter of fact. So much so, he didn't notice that it was stuck to him until he tried to shift it into his left hand so he could blast Wayne with a Spirit Gun. "Huh! This sword's freakin' stuck to my hand! You sick bastard! You coated it in super glue,  
didn't you!"  
"What...what are you talking about! The weapons bond to their user!", Wayne exclaimed, "Why did the sword choose you!"  
"Because it's a great judge of character.", Ash said, smirking. Wayne stared at him for a minute with a scowl, but it soon became a smirk, which, from there, became his trademark evil sneer. "Well then...", he said, "I assume Enma never once told you that I only need one of these items to reach the Spirit Stone. I may have lost the sword, but I WILL have the Spirit Stone!"  
"Spirit Stone!", Ash asked, a puzzled expression adorning his face, "What're you talking about!"  
"As I said, these two weapons are mere tools that lead to a greater power. That power, the Spirit Stone, will make the person using it into a GOD! A GOD, Ash! With that kind of power, morons like you will never stop me again!"  
"And you think I'm just gonna let you get your filthy hands on godlike power? YOU'RE the moron, Wayne!"  
"And YOU'RE too late to stop me!", Wayne exclaimed with a laugh, as he stuck his left arm into the rift.  
"What ARE you doing!"  
"What does it look like! I'm using the rift I created!", and with that, Wayne stepped completely into the rift. Ash charged toward it, to follow Wayne, but as he dove for it, it sealed itself. He stood there in absolute disbelief in a second, as the truth sank in; he'd let a criminal get away, and to top it off, it was Wayne Williams, the very first criminal he'd ever fought as a Spirit Detective, and without a doubt, the most dangerous. Unlike most of the other opponents Ash had fought, who were all talk, Wayne was strictly business;  
the business of assassinating people and becoming stronger, to further his goal, which was the death of every human being.

"And that's what happened.", Ash said, dejectedly.  
"What! How the hell could you let Wayne get away!", Enma shouted.  
"I would have stopped him, but this stupid sword kept me from firing my Spirit Gun! And besides, I tried jumping in after him, but that damn rift shut"  
"It's sealed again. The spot that was cut repaired itself. It'll be another...holy crap"  
"What? What is it"  
"It'll be an entire three months before the seal weakens enough for you to re-open the rift"  
"Three months! What am I supposed to do until then"  
"Continue with your life as normal"  
"Yeah, I'm going to LOVE explaining this sword to Misty"  
"Just...tell her you're working at a Halloween goods store part-time"  
A huge sweatdrop formed on the back of Ash's head "...Riiiight"  
"Or you can think of your own excuse"  
"I think I'll do that"  
"Even though thinking isn't your strong suit"  
"Exactly...I mean...shut up!", Ash said, flipping off the tiny screen on his watch.  
"Heh heh heh...", Enma laughed, then continued, "Anyway, I'll contact you when the rift weakens enough to be opened again.  
Until then, consider yourself on vacation."

The room was dark, pitch black. Not a thing to be seen, until suddenly, a small light was turned on in the middle of the room, illuminating a small, circular area in the room, no larger than 10 feet wide. A man stepped forward, and was closely followed by two others, all three of their faces covered by shadows. The male who had stepped forward first spoke, and immediatly, he was identified.  
"Well, this certainly seems to be a problem." It was the obvious voice of Wayne Williams. "Ash has taken the Sword. While I do not need it, nor does he, I cannot help but wonder WHY the sword chose him, or what he could possibly do with it."  
"Master Wayne," The second voice spoke, the voice of a young man, addressing Wayne. "it would seem that you are worried about Ash. I can assure you, he won't be a problem for you this time. After all, you have me around."  
"Silence, young one." Wayne scolded his proverbial padawan. "Your arrogance will be the death of you. Ash is not to be underestimated by anybody but me, is that clear?"  
"Aye, sir, my mistake." The second voice concluded.  
"Damn right." Wayne responded and turned to the third person. "Now then, as for you..."  
"You remember our deal, Wayne." It was the scratchy voice of what sounded to be a woman, though something sounded different, and because she was standing in complete shadow, nothing could be made out about her. "You will NOT go back on this now."  
"Calm down, missy." Wayne barked. "What you desire is very close, now that I have the Rift Bracelet, we are one step closer. What you desire is indeed very near, and nothing can stop us now."  
Wayne now stepped into the middle of the illuminated area, showing himself. "Gentleman, and lady, you know what you are to do, and you both know where to rendezvous, now leave me, I have preperations to make." With that, Wayne let out his trademark evil laugh as the other two bowed and left him, alone, in that dark, dark room.

"Ash, you're back, where'd you...What's with the sword?" Misty was talking to Ash, who had just walked into the bedroom, where Misty was busy with housecleaning. She had just noticed the Rift Sword infused in Ash's hand, and was curious. Ash hesitated.  
"Ahh...uhmm, you see..." He stuttered, wondering weather to use Enma's crappy excuse or try to think of his own, which probably wouldn't be much better. Misty raised an eyebrow. "I'm, uhh...working part time at a Halloween store, yeah, and uhhh...they say I need to get used to carrying this sword around. Yeah..." Not very convincing, but Misty seemed to buy it.  
"Oh, really?" She said, walking over to Ash. "Well, can I see-OW!" She had touched it, and immediatly drawn her hand back. "Ash, that thing is burning hot! How are you holding onto it!"  
"Well, it's not really hot to me."  
"Ash! Could you come here please?" It was the voice of Delia, Ash's mother.  
"Yeah, I'm coming!" Ash yelled before turning back to Misty. "Look, don't worry about it, okay?" He gave her a quick kiss and ran out of the room, down the stairs. Making sure nobody was around, he pushed a button on his watch.  
"Thanks for getting me out of that one, Enma. You sounded just like mom there."  
"Not a problem, Ash." Enma said, his face now appearing on the watch. "But regardless, you still have to keep this a secret for three months. She may NOT find out that you are a spirit detective. Understood?"  
"Yes, sir." Ash began to turn the watch off, but Enma stopped him.  
"Oh, and Ash..."  
"Yeah?"  
"There's something else. I have hired a new assistant. He will be helping you part time. I know I don't normally do it, but he seemed to have pretty decent spirit power. That, and I felt sorry seeing him in the unemployment line, so I gave him a shot." Enma concluded.  
"Well, let's see him."  
"Right." Enma turned his face to face off-screen. "Hey, come here. I want you to meet your new part time associate."  
The sound of footsteps was heard, and then, beside Enma, there was what appeared to be an oversized brown rat. He had solid red eyes, which made him identifiable, but aside from that, he was just a large Rat.  
"Ash," Enma was introductory. "Meet Ratty."  
"Wassup, fool?" Ratty spoke for the first time. His voice was semi-high pitched, and he shook his head when he talked. "The name's Ratty, and I'm here to help you go postal on Wayne's ass!" He can suck it!"  
"I like this guy already, Enma." Ash had a large grin on his face. He had a co-boss he could relate to now. Ash had a feeling he and Ratty would hit it off fast.  
"Well, it's good to know. But make no mistake, you will still be working with me. I'm just letting Ratty here break into the buisness, so to speak."  
"Damn straight!" Ratty raised a paw into the air. Ash just laughed, and though he knew he had a hard three months coming up, he knew everything would be okay.

THREE MONTHS LATER

Ash stood in the rocket base, exactly as he had Three Long months ago. He knew the time had come, and soon enough, he would finally be able to chase Wayne down once and for all. This was it. Suddenly, Ash's watch communicator began to beep. He turned it on, and there was Ratty.  
"What's up, Ratty?" Ash inquired.  
"Just checkin' in on ya, boy." Ratty said. "Enma told me to. 'Said it's about time for that there "rift" to open."  
"Yeah, it is," Ash responded. "And I'll finally be able to track down Wayne."  
Suddenly, there was a brilliant flash of light. Ash raised his arm to shield his eyes. The light faded a few moments later, and there it was. The Rift. The Rift in space and time that Wayne had jumped into three months earlier. The rift through which he had fled Ash again. At that moment, Ash decided that this would be the last time that Wayne would flee him.  
"He won't escape me again." Ash monolouged to himself, however unaware that his watch was still on until Ratty broke the silence.  
"Damn right!" Ratty sounded confident. "Ash, I want you to do something for me..."  
"What is it, Ratty?"  
"When you find Wayne, make the son of a biscuit eater suck it once for me!"  
"Will do, Ratty. Will do. Over and out." Ash pressed a button, and his watch was just that. A regular watch. With a determined look on his face, Ash took a great leap, and within seconds, he had dissapeared into the Rift, hot on the trail of Wayne Williams. Where the Rift would take him, he did not know, but no matter where it took him, he was ready for whatever he faced.

To Be Continued

Co-Authors Note: Caleb here. Myself and Dustin have been working hard on this first episode for a few days, and now here it is. We hope you enjoy it enough to read the continuing drama of Ash and his friends as we get more Episodes written up. Peace.


	2. Chapter 2

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 2 A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon and Caleb McGlone, with help from Rob Volske.

If you want a disclaimer, read the first episode. In the meantime, let's get the ball rollin' with Episode 2!

A few seconds after Ash had jumped into the rift, he began to see all sorts of colors flash before him, right before everything went white...then color returned. He found himself overlooking a rather bustling city. He had no idea where he was, but one thing was for certain...he wasn't standing on anything. Noticing this, Ash let out a terrified yelp, as he fell approximately one hundred feet, landing on his rump in some sort of park. As he got up, he noticed that the people in the area had gathered around him, and were looking at him strangely. He stared back at them, trying to think of something to say, that would explain why he fell from seemingly nowhere. Finally, an idea came to him. "What? Haven't you ever been Extreme Bungee Jumping?", he asked, causing someone in the crowd to reply with, "Extreme Bungee Jumping?". "Yeah.", Ash answered, pompously cupping his chin in his right hand, then continuing to lie, "Bungee Jumping without a bungee. It's all the rage where I come from. Now, if you'll excuse me...", he then made his way through the crowd, who, after he got past them, began to disperse. "Great, NOW you all"  
Ash didn't have time to finish, instead, he was stopped by a laser beam,which missed him by near inches. "Whoa! What the...!", Ash said, looking up at the source of the laser. A small, circular sphere hovered above him, smoke coming off of it, presumably from where it had fired the laser. Without warning, it fired again, causing Ash to leap back in order to avoid it. "You know, you kinda look like a volleyball.", Ash said, "So let's get this son of a bitch SERVED!". "Wait, Ash!", came the all-too-  
familiar voice of his boss, Emperor Enma, "Don't show off your powers in public! You'll blow your cover!". "So getting blown to hell before finding Wayne doesn't matter, as long as my cover isn't blown! Some boss you are!", Ash shouted. "I meant, don't use any of your Spirit Powers!", Enma shouted back. "What kind of idiot do you take me for!", Ash asked. After a moment of silence(And Ash barely dodging another laser attack), he said, "Wait. Don't answer that.". He then turned his watch off and immediately tackled the robot. However, the robot didn't fall to the ground, him in tow. Amazingly, it remained in the air. It also prepared to attack once more.  
"Shit! At this distance, I don't have time to dodge! I'm a sitting duck if I don't blast this thing...or slash it!", Ash shouted, then he let go of the robot and, a split-second later, slashed it in half with the Rift Sword. The two halves exploded before touching the ground.  
"That should take care of tha--", Ash started, but was cut off as nine more of the spherical robots, all much larger than the first,  
appeared, from a very strange tear in the sky..."A rift!", Ash half-asked, half-shouted. "No.", Enma said, suddenly popping up on Ash's wristwatch again, "this wasn't sliced open by a human hand. It was a robot that did this.". "No freaking way. A robot made THAT huge tear?", Ash asked in complete disbelief. "Yes. I think I have a file on a robot that powerful somewhere around here.  
hey, Ratty! Dig up the file on 'All-Powerful Robots'!", Enma shouted. Ratty's voice soon shouted back to him. "What, I'm doing menial labor now? This blows!". "Hey! Shut up and do it! You're doing your job, which is helping Ash! I'll hear no complaints from you"  
"Suck it and let me speak to 'im! YOU find the file"  
"I can't sully my hands with files! I'm the ruler of Spirit World"  
"Well, who's gonna find that file"  
The two looked on with blank expressions for a few seconds, then they named the file-finder simultaneously..."Botan"  
"Uh, guys...", Ash said, "Can ya call me back! I'm kinda getting shot at here!". A shot whizzes by him. "Holy hell!". Without permission, he turned the watch off and began to madly dodge the shots from the nine robots. 'I can't keep this up for long.', Ash thought, gritting his teeth. Suddenly, without warning, the fire had stopped. Moments later, Ash heard a light explosion. Looking behind him, he saw that one of the robots had been blown to pieces, and in its place, stood another robot, though this one was smaller, and more feminine. The robot was indeed modeled like a female, a teenage female, to be exact, and was blue. Ash looked at her, as if waiting for her to attack. Then, the robot spoke.  
"Relax, kid, I'm on your side." Her voice was that of a stereotypical teenage female, and Ash believed what she said, as the robots started firing. Ash began to dodge again, when the robot girl spoke again. "Put that sword to good use and help me out!" The robot girl shouted as she blew a second robot to pieces, lowering the number to seven.  
"Of course!" Ash half whispered, half thought, as he charged immediatly and thrust the Rift Sword through two robots at once. How could Ash had been so stupid? He had had a sword this whole time. Ash and the robot girl tag teamed another, then each of them killed one individually. One robot was left. It fired a shot which missed Ash, but nailed the blue robot right in the leg. She went down, but as the robot went in for the final Blow, Ash sliced it open viciously. With all the robots defeated, Ash let out a cry of victory. "Wahoo!" He screamed, raising the Rift Sword high into the air, but his victory celebration was interrupted as his Wrist Watch communicator found a way to turn back on, and the voice of Enma was there.  
"Ash, check on the Robot." Enma scolded.  
"No need to check on them, Enma sir. They're all dead!" He grinned and did a thumbs up.  
"No, you teenage idiot! The one who helped you, the blue one!" The grin on Ash's face faded.  
"Oh, yeah, right." He ran over to where the blue robot was laying. As he got there, she kicked herself up, as though she was fine. "Are you okay"  
"Yeah, I'm fine." The robot girl said. "It didn't hit me too hard. Oh, I guess I should introduce myself now. My name's Jenny. Jenny Wakeman"  
"Nice to meet you. I'm Ash Ketchum"  
"What brings you all the way-" Jenny stopped, her eyes now glued to the Rift Sword. She walked close, bent down, and examined it. After many minutes of silence, she gasped and jumped about ten feet back from Ash.  
"What's..." Ash tried to ask, but his question was answered before it even came out of his mouth.  
"Those markings, on your sword." Jenny said coldy. "They're just like the bracelet that that man had. And he brought Vexus here with her army of robots"  
"Vexus? And do you mean Wayne"  
"You know him, you're just like him!" Jenny shouted as she backed farther away from Ash, before turning around and breaking into a full speed run. "Stay away from me!" She shouted, before literally flying off into the distance.  
For a moment there was silence. Just Ash, standing there in desbelief, the abandoned battlegrounds behind him. The sound of Ratty on his wristwatch broke the silence.  
"Well that sucked." Ratty said calmly, before his voice turned urgent and serious for the very first time. "Ash! You need to follow her! She mentioned a 'Vexus'. We need to know about this Vexus so we can hunt the bitch down and make him suck it! Jenny may know something. Enma and I will do what we can, but you need to chase Jenny. GO"  
"Roger that, Ratty. Over and out." Ash turned the Watch communicator off and immediatly broke off in a full force run in the direction Jenny had gone. He didn't know how far she had gotten, but hey, she was a robot. How hard could she be to find? Ash could only hope he was right.

"Main Screen Turn On." The man, who was hidden by shadow, spoke as he hung up the phone. There was a large, dark room illuminated only by a huge Plasma Screen that was as wide as the wall it sat on. The man who had been speaking into the phone now stood at attention before the screen, as did a robotic humaniod whose face was also unidentifiable. Shortly thereafter, the head of one Wayne Williams appeared on the giant screen, and it was immediately glaring down the android.  
"VEXUS!" Wayne shouted furiously. "What is the meaning of this"  
The android woman, Vexus, stepped forward and bowed. "I apologize, Wayne. Ash was finished. We did not intend for the outside interference that occured to do so. It's not"  
Wayne interrupted her. "Are you telling me that you are too weak to take down a Robot half your size?" Vexus remaind silent. "That's what I thought." Wayne said scruffily.  
"Fear not, Wayne." Vexus spoke lightly. "Jenny saw the markings on the Rift Sword. She has fled, and she'll lead Ash right to me, I'm sure of it. I'll finish him off myself"  
"See to it that you do. Now get out of my face." Wayne made a motion with his hand, motioning her away. Vexus simply nodded, then vanished into thin air. The man, who had been standing there this whole time, spoke.  
"I don't think she's worth all the trouble, Wayne." He said coolly.  
"You think I don't know that?" Wayne responded. "She has no idea. Ash will obliterate her, if he is anything at all." Wayne began to laugh. "Wanting to enslave mankind, HAH! Who does she think she is? Mankind must be crushed, destroyed, not a damn thing less will do"  
"Right you are, sir"  
"I assume you know what is to be done, then"  
"Of course. But I shall hide, and ambush the two of them after Ash destroys Vexus. He will not be expecting an attack after that. However, I want to see this turn out, so if you don't mind, I'm going to go get a "private view" of this fight, shall we say"  
"Very well, you're dismissed. Just don't disappoint me like she did"  
"I would never think of it." The man bowed, and in an instant, he was gone too, leaving Wayne on the big screen all alone.  
"Excellent...yes, excellent." He monologued to himself. "If all keeps going as I plan, NOBODY will be able to stop me! MAIN SCREEN TURN OFF!" As he slowly faded out, Wayne's image died away, with the sound of his trademark evil laugh echoing through the hollow room.

Authors note: Caleb here again, stay tuned for more. :D

Post-Author's Note:Dustin here. It has come to my attention that I have yet to describe Wayne. Well, Ii apologize for this, and shall describe him in the upcoming episode. Honestly, there was no excuse for me to go this long without describing him, and for not doing so, I truly am sorry. Also, as Caleb said, stay tuned for more. :D 


	3. Chapter 3

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 3 

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon and PAEC, with help from Rob Volzke 

The disclaimer is in the first episode, so please read it there. On a side note, I apologize to Rob for the misspelling of his last name. The correct spelling is above. Sorry again, Rob. And with that said, let's move onto Episode 3!

"Jenny! Wait up!", Ash shouted after the teenage female robot, as she shot higher into the sky. "Damn it! I can't freaking fly!", Ash shouted. He then bumped into someone minutes later, causing that someone to fall to the ground. "Hey! Watch where you're going,  
you neanderthal!", shouted that person, in an accent that Ash couldn't place. "Look, I'm sorry, but I'm in a rush.", Ash said, "I gotta get to that robot girl! Jenny!"  
"Jenny? You know XJ-9?", asked the voice.  
"XJ-9?", Ash asked, then looked down at the owner of the voice at last. She was a short woman, with white hair, wearing glasses.  
"Yes, the robot I presume you're chasing. My creation."  
"Wait, you created her?"  
"Yes. How do you know her?"  
"We just slaughtered ten giant spherical robots. She told me her name, saw my sword, and took off.", Ash said, lowering the sword for the woman to see, then continuing, "She said it had the same markings as this bracelet she saw."  
"It DOES have the same markings. I saw him too.", the woman began, "Oh...it was about three months ago. XJ-9 was fighting the Cluster, as usual, and this man with red hair appeared out of nowhere."  
"Man with red hair? Was he six feet tall?"  
"Yes."  
"Wear a white lab coat?"  
"That's right."  
"And did he wear those atrocious brown khaki pants?"  
"Well, they weren't ATROCIOUS, but yes, he was wearing brown khakis. Why?"  
"Hey, I'm askin' the questions, lady. And I have one more. Did he have green eyes?"  
"Yes, he did."  
"Aha! It IS Wayne! Now, lady, if you'll excuse me..."  
"Hold it!"  
"What?"  
"You're going to find XJ-9, are you not?"  
"Yeah, I need to learn more about this 'Vexus'."  
"That's where she would be."  
"Beg pardon?"  
The woman sighed. "XJ-9 ran off to finish the Cluster once and for all, at least, that's what she told me. Vexus is the cluster Queen. You'll no doubt find her wherever Vexus has landed the mothership."  
"Then can you tell me where that is, Mrs...ummm..."  
"Mrs. Wakeman." She spoke proudly.  
"I'm Ash."  
"Yes, yes, very good, there is no time." Mrs. Wakeman motioned to the bag she was carrying, and she pulled out what appeared to be a large box, about two feet by two feet. "I was trying to give this to her, but she ran off so fast. XJ-9's power is running low. She does not have enough left in her auxillury reserves to get her through the battle. She will shut down, and if that happens, she will be destroyed beyond repair." Mrs. Wakemans face suddenly grew sad. "And though I could make another, I daresay I've become attached to XJ-9, as though she actually was my flesh and blood daughter. That is why I must ask of you, Ash. Take this battery to XJ-9, and you have to hurry. There is not much time." Ash took the battery, which was surprisingly light, and held it on one arm.  
"Don't worry, Mrs. Wakeman," He said assuringly. "I'm not going to let her die. I WILL get to Jenny on time!"  
"Thank you Ash. Now go! Every second we waste is another that her life is in danger!"  
Ash nodded and turned, running at full speed in the direction Jenny had gone off in. In the great distance, he could now hear the sound of gunfire. Blaster gunfire! A smile crossed his face and he ran faster, sweating, but making it there. He was almost there, and he would NOT allow Jenny to die.

The large Cluster Mothership hovered a few hundred feet off the ground, above a green forest, filled with lush trees. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a large wind began to blow the trees. A second later, Wayne's unnamed shadowy assistant was standing on a branch. His face, as well as the rest of his body, was covered by branches, with only his mouth visible. He looked up to the Mothership and smirked.  
"So," he spoke, his voice moderate with an English-American accent. "That is Vexus 'Momma-Ship'." He chuckled at his own humor. "We'll see how well it holds up." He looked left, noticing a fight. Many generic, run-of-the-mill robots, each being fought off by a blue robot. One by one, the large robots fell. "Pathetic." Suddenly, he jerked his head back, away from the action, then he grinned. Off in the distance, a little dot was gradually getting bigger and bigger, until eventually, he could make it out. It was Ash Ketchum, running full-speed-ahead to this battle. "Well, it seems I got a front row seat. Now, Ash, let's see what you've got." The man let out a light evil laugh, then ducked back into the cover of the trees, not to be seen by anyone.

Ash could see it now. There they were, just up ahead. Then, unexpectedly, Ash's wrist communicator came on, and it was Enma.  
"Ash, be careful. For the slightest moment, I could feel something strong."  
"Do you still feel it now?" Ash asked, still running, partially panting.  
"Well, no."  
"Then save it for later!" Ash flipped the switch and Enma was gone. Then, he looked on in horror. Jenny had shut down, three feet away from him. The robots moved in for the kill, then each of them noticed Ash, one by one, until all of their blasters were pointed at him.  
"JENNY!", Ash shouted, then, amazingly, pulled his sword out of his right hand. "What the...! It...shifted to my left hand!", Ash said in surprise, then a really big, toothy grin adorned his face. "Well, whaddaya know? It appears my right hand is free!". He charged forward, the battery and sword still being held by his left arm and left hand,  
respectively. He raised his right hand and pointed his finger in the direction of the robots, as though he were holding a gun, and sure enough, a tiny blue orb of energy appeared in front of his finger. He held it there for a few seconds as he charged, before finally shouting out the words, "SPIRIT GUN!". A blue beam formed from the orb, then erupted through two of the robots. The biggest of the robots finally spoke up. "RETREAT. ALL FORCES, FALL BACK. WE ARE NO MATCH FOR THE HUMANOID."  
The robots then beat a hasty retreat, as the Mothership descended to pick them up. As they entered, the door started to close.  
"They'll get away, Ash!", Enma shouted, the communicator turning on automatically once more."I know! I'm on it!", Ash replied,  
then grabbed Jenny and rushed into the closing hatch. Just as it closed, he cleared the distance between the outside world and the Cluster Mothership. He then set Jenny down, and hooked the battery to her. "Come on, Jenny...", he said. Soon after,  
fortunately, her eyes glowed again, signifying that she was still alive. "Wha...where am I?", Jenny asked.  
"You're safe. Your mom gave me a battery to charge you with.", Ash said, a smile on his face.  
"But...you're an enemy...why would you help me?", Jenny asked, obviously still quite confused.  
"That's just it, I'm NOT an enemy!", Ash said, then went on to explain..."The man you saw, Wayne Williams, is my archrival. For nearly two years, I've been fighting him. It all started back when he was working for an organization known as Team Rocket. He bombed ten houses in my hometown, just to give me a message. When I didn't listen, I ended up fighting him in a tournament.  
Though I won, he had the last laugh. He ended up killing me. That's how I got into my current line of work."  
"What ARE you? You survived being killed? What kind of logic is that?", Jenny asked.  
"My boss arranged for me to come back to life. He made me the Earth's 'Spirit Detective'. He also gave me an awesome spirit attack known as the Spirit Gun. I used it to have what I thought was the TRUE last laugh in the struggle between Wayne and I."  
"So...why does your sword have the same markings as his bracelet?"  
"Because...I was attempting to steal both from him. He was going to use both to reach an item called the Spirit Stone. With it, he would become all-powerful."  
"So, since you have the sword, he can't reach it, right? You've completed your mission, then."  
"I'm afraid he still can. Apparently, he only needs one of the items. My mission won't end until I've kicked his ass."  
"Well then...how about a hand?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"This Wayne guy, he's psychotic, right?"  
"Yeah. He wants to destroy every last human. But...this is my mission. I can't get you involved."  
"I'm ALREADY involved. The second Wayne tries to hurt the people I care about, it'll be MY mission too, so I figure that if we stop him now, he won't even have a chance to try!"  
"Heh, you have a point. So, I guess we're officially partners, then.", Ash said, smirking. Jenny then extended her hand. "Put 'er there, partner.", she said. Ash then extended his own, and the two shook hands.

"That file has to be here SOMEWHERE!", Botan, the aqua-haired Grim Reaper, shouted. She then finally spotted one unopen file.  
Grumbling, she made a barely audible comment, "It's always the LAST one...". Looking through the file, she spotted the name "Vexus". She shouted to Enma in another room, "Lord Enma! I found the file!"

The man sat in the tree, staring up at the Mother Ship, which had just ascended higher into the air, Ash and the robot barely clearing the distance. "I'll be damned, the kid can hop a little." He said to himself. At that moment, his eyes shifted to his pocket, where something was vibrating. He reached in, and pulled out what appeared to be a PDA, but when he pushed the button in the middle, there was his grungy, red-headed boss, Wayne Williams. The man seemed taken aback, though his face still was hidden.  
"Something troubling you, Wayne?" the man asked his boss.  
"Has Ash been taken care of?" Wayne spoke impatiently.  
"For starters, no."  
"Don't tell me you've screwed up too!"  
"Nothing like that. Vexus is holding out longer than we thought, though Ash is pursuing her within the ship now."  
"I see."  
"Don't forget, Wayne, my goal is not to kill Ash. I am simply going to show him what he really has to deal with this time around. Naturally, I could kill him, but I figured you'd want the pleasure, Master. After all, you owe him one."  
"Don't remind me, young one. You know what to do, now see that you do it!"  
"Aye, sir. Over and out." The man pressed the button again and put the PDA-like object back into his pocket. His gaze averted once again back up to the hovering Mother ship. "Shouldn't be long now..."

There was a loud beeping that echoed through the ship, and Ash lifted his arm, and stared at his watch.  
"What's that sound?" Jenny asked curiously.  
"Wrist communicator." Ash replied. "Hold on, you'll see." He pushed the button, and Ratty was on the screen. "What've you got, Ratty?"  
"Good news, boy." Ratty said. "We found the file on that robotic bitch, and the info is here. Enma will explain." A few seconds later, Enma held in his hands a thick file.  
"Alright, Ash." Enma spoke. "Here's what we got." He held up a picture. "Says here her name's Vexus. Most of this is past records, though. All that you need to know is that she's a complete robot, surprise surprise, and that she can rip through to alternate dimensions at will, and close them right behind her. Stay close, and do NOT let her open a rift, got it?"  
"Got it. Thanks, boss. I'll go take her out!"  
"WE'LL go take her out." Jenny corrected.  
"Well then..." Enma said, "Welcome to the team, Jenny."  
"Thanks. I'll do my best, sir." Jenny replied with a smile. Ash then switched his communicator off.  
"Ready?" he asked his new partner.  
"Yeah." Jenny agreed, and the two raced forward, until arriving at a large door, which Ash made quick work of with his Rift Sword.  
"After you." Ash gestured to Jenny.  
"No, you first." Jenny said.  
"Why don't you BOTH come in?"came an ominous voice, and Ash and Jenny turned in the direction of it. Standing in the center of the room was the green and yellow-striped Cluster Queen herself, Vexus...her eyes narrowed as she smirked.  
"Welcome, Ash. Jennifer. I've been expecting the two of you..."

To be continued

Author's note:Dustin here. For once I feel like I actually got something done. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.PAEC and I should have the next one out very soon. Peace, all. :p


	4. Chapter 4

Pokewing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 4 A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon and PAEC, with help from Rob Volzke. 

Again, the disclaimer is in the first episode, so please, read it there. With that said, let us begin with Episode 4 immediately!

"Such a shame, really." Vexus said, feigning pity. "All this time, Jennifer, I told you that you would either join the Cluster, or be destroyed. Unfortunately, it appears you've chosen the latter."  
"The only one who's getting destroyed today is you, Vexus!" Ash said, "Then I'm gonna find your boss and kick his ass!"  
"Boss?" Vexus asked, then broke out into laughter, "Ho ho, that's rich. No fleshbag is the boss of Vexus! I'm merely using him to get what I want; the enslavement of all humanity!"  
"Then you have to realize he's using you as well!" Ash said.  
"When the time comes, I'll deal with Wayne!" Vexus said, then she stepped back, and bared her robotic claws.  
"Watch out, Ash! She's opening a rift!" Jenny warned.  
"Oh no she isn't! Vexus, fight like a man!"  
The two female robots stood there for a moment, dumbstruck.  
"Okay...WOMAN. Sheesh. Look, the point is...don't run!"  
"Silly human, I'm not running. I AM fighting!", and as she said this, a tiny scar appeared in the air, behind Ash. Vexus' arm erupted from that scar, piercing Ash's right shoulder.  
"AARGH!", Ash cried out in pain, falling forward to his knees.  
"Foolish human, we're in MY domain now! My rules apply!"  
"D...damn. Shoulda seen that one coming..."  
"Are you okay, Ash!" Jenny asked, running over to him.  
Ash was silent for a second, clutching his shoulder, then he said, "Yeah. This is nothing. Wayne injured me exactly the same way the last time I fought him."  
"That was just the start." Vexus said, "It's time for the main course!". And with that, her arm tore through another scar, this time,  
aiming lower. However, Ash caught her arm and yanked her out of the scar. He threw her back over to where she had initially made the rift. She angrily got back to her feet.  
"Grr...damn you!"  
"There's something I wanted to ask ya.", Ash said, "I'd heard you can create rifts. Why, then, are you not searching for the Spirit Stone yourself?"  
"It's true that I can create rifts...", Vexus said, "However, I can only create them between the Cluster Dimension and this dimension."  
"So you're stuck here?"  
"Correct, and that's all you need to KNOW!" She tried to catch Ash off-guard as she opened another Rift. This time, she aimed for his back. Ash turned and caught the arm.  
"Too easy." He smirked, then before he could act, her other arm came, and landed a shot right in the middle of his groin. Ash was immediatly doubled over in pain. "B...bi...bitch..." Ash tried to claw his way up to his feet, but could not, as he was holding onto hiscrotch for dear life. Vexus began to walk to him.  
"Foolish little boy...Your time has come!" She pulled her arm back for a final blow, but then there was resistance. She looked back, only to find Jenny holding back her hand. "I see you want some too!"  
"We'll see about that." Jenny grinned and tried to toss Vexus back. She failed, and Vexus thrust her to the ground, leaving a rather large indentation of Jenny in the floor. Behind her, Ash had slowly gotten up. One hand still holding his privates, he had the other had shaped like a gun, and was slowly raising it to Vexus' head level.  
"Foolish little girl." Vexus said, looking down at Jenny. "Now, time for me to finish-" Vexus had turned right around, only to find a finger gun right in her face.  
"SPIRIT GUN!" Ash shouted, and an enormous blue ball emitted from his fingers, and hit Vexus dead in the face. When the dust cleared, there was good and bad. Vexus' headless body had fallen to the ground. But, alas, they saw where the head had gone. Ash had blown Vexus' head right through the side of the ship, which was rapidly sinking. Ash roused Jenny, and together they jumped through the hole and hovered in the air, as the mothership slowly descended to the earth.

The man in the tree saw the mothership finally falling. "Very well done, Ash. Now playtime is over." He then looked behind him with a curious look on his face. Walking to the crash site was what appeared to be an elderly woman, white hair, glasses, short, labcoat. Yes, this was the one who had built the blue robot, he was sure of it. A huge grin came across the man's face, and slowly, he moved into position.

When the Mother Ship finally touched down, the crash was not much, but the ship was easily well beyond repair. Jenny hovered slowly, Ash hanging onto her back, until she too was back on ground level. Ash was immediatly concerned.  
"You okay?" He asked hastily. "That was a pretty rough punch Vexus gave you."  
"I'm fine, thanks Ash."  
"Good."  
"Well, we did it! We defeated the Cluster Queen. I don't know if you know it or not, but you just helped me in a battle I've been fighting for as long as I can remember. I can't thank you enough. And now, I'm gonna go with you and help you stop Wayne as a token of thanks!"  
"It'll be good to have you." Ash said wholeheartedly. "Hey, let's go tell the good news to--"  
Before Ash could finish, the bruised and slightly bloody-slightly conscious body of Mrs. Wakeman landed two feet behind them. They turned around, and while Jenny was shocked, it didn't quite register with Ash immediately. "Speak of the devil." Then it hit him. "My GOD!"  
Jenny immediatly rushed over, as did Ash. Mrs. Wakeman was bad off. "Mom, MOM!" Jenny was hysteric. "Mom! Who did this!"  
"You can thank me for that." came a voice from infront of them. Both looked. There, before them stood a tall man, with shoulder-  
length black hair, and solid red eyes. He was wearing a camoflauge labcoat, and black jeans. "I figured it would be the best way to get your attention."  
"Who are you and what the hell is your deal?" Ash stood and took a few steps towards the man. He was obviously infuriated. The man however kept his cool.  
"I guess you deserve to know." He tossed the labcoat aside, showing off a white tank top, which showed off his muscles. "My name is Riku Kurosawa Yukimora, and my master has had quite a few problems with you in the past, young Ketchum boy."  
"So you work for that bastard Wayne? Then you're just being used too!"  
"Save your preaching, boy, I'm not listening to a word. I know all about Wayne, and no matter what he does, I'm on his side for my own reasons. Now, don't you think you should be caring for the old bitch?"  
As he said this, Jenny glared Riku down. Shortly later, she stood up and charged him.  
"Jenny!" Ash tried to stop her.  
"You did this to Mom, You're MINE!" She tried to kick him in the side of the head, but with one motion of his arm, Jenny was smacked into a nearby tree.  
"Now then, Ketchum, it's you and I." Riku stood in a battle stance, but as he did, there was a metal clunk. Both of them looked over, and saw that Vexus mangled, robotic head had fallen from the tree, and leanded on Jennys body, and had thereafter rolled to Riku's foot. The head found a way to speak.  
"R...Riku...Help...me..." Vexus looked pleadingly at Riku, who simply dropped her head, and knelt down to it.  
"Vexus, I have a message from Wayne." He gave an akward pause, before finishing. "You are dead to us..."  
"Wait, no!" A second later, he lifted his foot, and crushed her metallic head. Vexus was silent, and Ash looked on in disbelief, then he raised the Rift sword.  
"Well, now that you're done playing with your little robot friend, it's time for an ass kicking." Ash looked confident. Riku merely laughed.  
"You have no Idea, Ash. Absolutely no idea"  
"Yeah, we'll see about that." Ash charged Riku and thrust the Rift Sword down, but something was wrong. It was blocked. There was a Katana in Riku's hand, and he had parried the Rift Sword's blow. The Katana had a strange, black Aura to it. "A Spirit Katana?"  
"Few can use them, it shows my Spirit power. A materialized Katana, even." He laughed. "Now, it's time for youto fall!" Riku shifted behind Ash, and clenched his right hand into a fist. Before Ash could strike Riku with the Rift Sword, Riku came around full force, and landed a direct hit to a nerve on the side of Ash's knee. Ash screamed loudly and fell to the ground, clenching his left knee in pain. Riku held his Katana to Ash's throat, forcing Ash to stare him down. For the first time in a long time, Ash had been rendered defenseless. If Riku had wanted to strike Ash down right there, there would not have been a thing anyone could do about it.  
"I could destroy you now, but as I promised Wayne, I'll give him the pleasure." Riku sent away his sword, but gave Ash a sharp kick in the back, which sent him rolling a few feet. He then walked over to Ash and kneeled down. "Now listen to me. I went very easy on you this time. You are pathetic. Wayne could easily kill you. If you want to live, get stronger, or you're gonna find your ass six feet under faster than it took me to take you down. Take that advice WELL!" He ended kicking Ash hard in the back one more time. Ash cried out in pain, and Riku disappeared, leaving Ash, Jenny and Mrs. Wakeman there, down and out. Slowly, Ash reached, and hit the switch on his wrist communicator.  
"What's, up A--", Enma started, then cried out in shock, "GOOD HELL! What happened!"  
"One of Wayne's lackeys happened. He beat Jenny in one attack. Then he decided to use my body for kickboxing practice."  
"Ash, I want you to wait right there. I'm sending Ratty and Botan to patch you, Jenny, and her mom up."  
"I'm not goin' anywhere anyway, boss. I think he shattered my knee."  
"Good lord, how?"  
"He just punched it..."  
"Damn...well anyway, just stay there. Don't even try to move. Ratty and Botan will be there shortly."  
"Gotcha. Over and out.", Ash then turned off the communicator, and sat still, waiting for his two assistants. While waiting, a frightening thought popped into his mind; 'If I couldn't even touch that Riku guy, and he's taking orders from Wayne...then has Wayne just been toying around with me this entire time!' Ash sat there, for many more minutes of silence, before another thought came into his head. 'Or maybe, I was just too tired from fighting Vexus...No, that's not right, the only thing that fight did was take away the ability to use my Spirit Gun, and he was too fast for me to have hit him.' Ash sighed, then winced in pain. 'Damn, he sure knows how to take someone down.'  
Ash lay there for what seemed like forever, before finally, the sound of something cutting through the air reached his ears. He looked up, which took a lot out of him, and could see Botan's oar cutting through the air, and moments later, Botan and Ratty were at his side. Botan immediatly ran over to Jenny and Professor Wakeman.  
"The robot simply took a bump, but fixing up mecha is not my specialty." Botan said, examining Jenny. She looked at Mrs. Wakeman. "Her, I can heal. Ratty, can you heal with spirit energy?"  
"Hell yeah." Ratty sounded different in person, and he also looked a little bigger.  
"Then do so." Botan turned around and was in the process of curing Mrs. Wakeman. Ratty walked over to Ash's knee, and held his paws out.  
"I'm not exactly good at healing what you have, boy, so this's gonna hurt. But ultimately, I'll be able to put this sun-gun back together. Now brace yerself." Ratty held out his hands, and secodns later, Ash was screaming in pain. Then, it was gone. "You're cured, boy."  
Amazingly, Ash could now stand up.  
"Thanks, Ratty. How badly was my knee bruised up?"  
"Huh? Oh, uh...well, son of a bitch. It wasn't broken in the slightest."  
"What!"  
"This is far too screwed up, but it seems like the only thing he did was hit a nerve. Izzat somethin' he learned from Wayne?"  
"No, none of Wayne's moves even begin to resemble what he did. He must have learned them from somewhere else."  
"Oh yeah...Enma wanted me to ask you...did he say his name?"  
"Yeah. Riku Kurosawa Yukimora, why?"  
"I think he's gonna dig up some dirt on that guy. Anywho, yer good to go, boy. So, when ya see that scruffy little bastard again,  
make 'im suck it for me!"  
"Gotcha, Ratty."  
"I've healed Doctor Wakeman, so our job here is done." Botan called over to Ratty.  
"Right. Catch ya later, boy."  
The two were then soon gone, and Ash was left with two unconscious females, and the nagging thought in his mind.  
'How am I going to get strong enough to kick Wayne's ass this time? And how about that Riku? How am I gonna beat someone who can actually materialize his Spirit Energy! Things aren't looking so good right now...but I know we'll find a way to win. We have to...'

To be continued


	5. Chapter 5

Pokewing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 5 A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon and PAEC, with help from Rob Volzke 

For the fourth time, the disclaimer is in the first episode, so please, read it there. Let's get on with episode 5!

"Wha..what happened?" Jenny asked, as she was roused from unconsciousness by Ash.  
"You took a rather large hit from that bastard." Ash remarked.  
"Ohh..." came the voice of Mrs.Wakeman, who also was starting to come to.  
"Good, you're both gonna be okay." came Enma's voice, from Ash's wristwatch.  
"Hey, I have a question." Ash asked, suddenly.  
"What is it, Ash?"  
"How come I can never keep you from popping up on my communicator whenever you please?"  
"Because I'm me.", Enma replied, smirking. "Ah, it's so good to be the Emperor..."  
"Asshole." Ash said, then switched off the wrist communicator, which turned back on immediately.  
"Hey! Don't switch me off, Ash! I have rather important information for you and Jenny!"  
"Fine, what is it?" Ash was pissed enough as it is. Then, Ratty came up beside Enma.  
"Now don't you get all rah-rah-rah sassy with us, boy. We know where you live."  
"Just shut up for a while. Enma, what's the information?"  
"Well," Enma went on. "It seems that the fabric of Space and Time has become weak again."  
"That affects me...how, again?"  
"Don't you see, Ash?" Ash shook his head, Enma became frustrated. "Think about it. It means that a new Rift has opened up. You can pursue Riku, who we believe will lead you to Wayne."  
"I'd like to be able to see him again and show him what-for..."  
"Ash, get real. I know you don't want to admit it, but you wouldn't stand a chance against this Riku fellow. You need to be smart about this."  
Ash sighed. "Yeah, I know Enma. It's just..."  
"I understand Ash, don't worry about it. Now, we need to get to the location of that new Rift that has opened."  
"Alright, shoot."  
"It's pretty simple, really. There's a mall in the southeast area of town. The rift is in a female lavatory there." Ash was dumbfounded, then a huge perverted grin crossed his face.  
"So, my 'assignment', then, is to go into the girls bathroom? I mean, it's the only way, right?" Enma sighed.  
"Yes, Ash, you are correct."  
"Life is good." Ash was smiling a big toothy grin. Ratty came up beside Enma.  
"Oh Snap!"  
"Shaddap." Enma frowned madly. "Anyway, you have your assignment, We're out." The communicator turned off.  
Ash got up to go check on Jenny and Mrs. Wakeman, but as of now, he liked how things were going.

"So, Wayne..." began the spectral figure in front of the aforementioned psychotic, Wayne, "You say that boy is strong?"  
"Who, Riku?", Wayne asked, then took a drag from his lit cigarette, "Yeah. He is very strong. Second only to me."  
"So, your goal is getting closer and closer to becoming reality..."  
"If you're worried about me killing that woman you're so hung up over, don't be. I made you a deal, and as long as you do right by me, I'll honor it."  
The two men, one human(Or inhuman, based upon his actions in the past), one half-human, half-ghost hybrid, stood atop a building in a bustling city. "What are you so worried about, Plasmius?", Wayne asked, smirking. "Afraid a teenager is going to kick your ass?"  
"Don't forget, MY archenemy's son is a teenager.", the half-ghost known as Plasmius said, "And he's also half-ghost."  
"But he's a FULL weakling. I'll take care of him."  
Wayne then discarded his cigarette and stomped it out.  
"Danny won't stand a chance against me.", Wayne said, a sneer on his face, as he laughed evilly into the night sky.

It was a busy day at the local mall in Tremorton, so nobody really noticed the "odd couple" racing toward the girls bathroom. Nobody, that is, except for two brothers who happened to be best friends with Jenny.  
"Jenny! Hey, Jenny!" called the older of the two brothers, Brad. "Jenny? Where?" called Tuck, the younger brother. Jenny then raced by the two of them, actually making the two of them spin. "There she is...", Tuck said, "Now can someone please make the room stop? I want off!"  
"Heyguyscan'ttalkgottagolet'shangoutlaterbye!" Jenny shouted back toward them, and she and Ash continued on, until reaching the girls bathroom. There, Ash flung the door open and raced inside, Jenny close behind. Several screams could then be heard,  
as five girls madly dashed out of the bathroom.  
"You can have it back in a minute!" Ash shouted after them.  
He then opened the first stall. There it was. He saw a tiny scar in the air. "Let's be quick, Ash." Jenny said. "I wouldn't be surprised if they went after Mall Security."  
"It's alright, Jenny." Ash lifted the Rift Sword and pulled back. "This will only take a second!" Ash made a slicing motion, and the air opened up before him. Just like last time, the rift was black, white was in places. It was a cut in space and time. Enma popped up on the wrist communicator.  
"Hurry, Ash. Just like the last time, it won't stay open forever."  
"Right. Ready Jenny?"  
"As I'll ever be." She nodded, and with that, Ash grabbed her and they leaped through the rift, which closed shortly behind them. Once again, they were falling, falling, falling into a neverending space, wondering where they would land. After what seemed like an eternity, the two landed on what appeared to be the top of a house. Rubbing his backside,Ash slowly tried to stand up, sliding off the house as he did so.  
"Ash! Are you okay!" came Jenny's worried shout.  
"I'm fine." Ash replied, "Something soft and oddly human-shaped broke my fall."  
"Hey! Get offa me!" came a shout from under Ash, which caused Ash to immediately get to his feet.  
"Whoops. Sorry about that, uh..." Ash said, trying to prompt the dirt-covered stranger to give out his or her name. "Haru." conceded the completely unidentifiable person, who then walked over to a nearby body of water and jumped in. When Haru emerged, Ash and Jenny could finally see that he was male. He was of average height, with a fairly muscular build. He had silvery locks ponting every which way, and purple eyes, as well as an enormous sword.  
"So, why were you on the roof of my house?", Haru asked.  
"Couldn't really help it." Ash replied, "We sorta had no warning on where we'd land."  
"What, did you jump out of a plane without a parachute?"  
"No, just into a rift." Jenny said.  
"Rift?" Haru looked puzzled. "Maybe you're talking about the tear in the sky that those creatures came out of"  
"Creatures?" Ash asked, genuinely puzzled.  
"Yeah, they're these weird little black things that appeared from this tear in the sky at the island port."  
"Tear in the sky...you mean a rift?"  
"I guess."  
"Wait." Jenny said, "Let me scan for unusual disturbances..."  
Jenny's eyes seemed to glow for a few seconds, and then she turned back to Ash. "Yeah, there's something resembling a rift not too far from here."  
"Haru, you saw this rift...was there anyone there when it opened?"  
"Yeah, some guy with a bracelet."  
"Wayne was here, then. Is he still in the area?" Ash asked, a look of determination on his face.  
"Ash, wait.", came the voice of Enma, as his face popped up yet again on Ash's wristwatch.  
"What is it, Enma!", Ash asked, obviously annoyed.  
"You're not going to take on Wayne already, are you?"  
"...Damn. I forgot about my defeat. That doesn't mean I'm going to let him just do what he wants, though. If I see him, I'll try to stop him."  
"The operative word here being 'try'." Enma said. "Look, we both know that you can't beat him currently--"  
"Stop rubbing that in my face!", Ash said. "Anyway, looks like he's dragged some sort of creatures from the new rift."  
"Creatures?", Enma inquired. "Uh, yeah.", Haru said. "They were small. Had really jagged teeth, and they were pitch black. When one attacked me, I fought back.  
When I cut it, it oozed this hideous black stuff, which burned into the ground, like acid. The monster then dissolved into what appeared to be a black mist."  
Enma's eyes widened considerably, and his lips appeared to tremble. After what seemed like an eternity, he said something barely audible. Jenny picked up on it, though.  
"...Nightmares?"  
"It can't be...", Enma said, "It's impossible. They were all destroyed ten years ago."  
"Okay..." Ash said, "I'm getting a little confused here. What the hell are you talking about?"  
"The Nightmare is a creature that was created millions of years ago. A creature of insane power created them. If they have come back, then we are indeed in deep guacamole, even moreso than we were before this revelation. Now, Haru, was it?"  
"Yeah, and your name's Enma, right?"  
"Right. How many were there?"  
"Well, there are four now, that I know of."  
"Only four...okay, Ash, Jenny, and Haru...track these things down first. Jenny doesn't have to worry about what I'm about to say...do NOT let them bite you. They are EXTREMELY venomous. Their teeth are sharp, but not sharp enough to pierce metal."  
"Crap. How venomous ARE these things?"  
"Their venom is acidic, Ash. One bite and you're gone."  
"Christ." Ash said, his eyes narrowing, "So the shit has really hit the fan."  
"That's ONE way of putting it." Enma said, his eyes narrowed in annoyance, "Anyway, track these down, and for the love of the big man upstairs, don't let them bite ANYBODY!"  
"Gotcha. Over and out." Ash said, turning off the communicator, then turning toward Haru. "Haru, can you lead us to the pier?"  
"Yeah. Just follow me." Haru said, then ran off in the direction of the pier.

"He went in here." one of the girls who ran out of the ladies' bathroom said, to a male security guard.  
"I see. And you're sure he's still in there?"  
"Yes, sir." The girl said. "I've been right here. Nobody has gone in or out."  
"Okay, now don't you worry. Wait right here. I'll drag him out." said the security guard. He then walked into the bathroom, and took off his hat, revealing his familiar shoulder-length black hair. He smirked, seeing the open stall. He then pulled out his PDA-like communicator, and pressed a button, turning the window on. Wayne's face popped up on it. "Anything to report, Riku?"  
"Yes sir. Ash Ketchum and Jenny Wakeman have located the new rift. It was in the girls bathroom at this pathetic mall."  
"Figures, a social gathering for these shitstains is where the rift would be. Very well. Follow him, but don't let him know you're there. Oh, and Riku?"  
"Hmm?"  
"I'll also be sending the girl along. She wishes to catch them right here, and I'm going to let her."  
"Not very smart, is she? She really thinks that attempting to destroy Ash will allow her to get what she asked you for."  
"Her funeral." Wayne sounded uncaring. "Now, you got it?"  
"Got it. By the way, Wayne..."  
"Yes?"  
"How long do you intend to keep Ash in the dark?" this put a smirk on Wayne's face.  
"Don't worry. All will slowly and agonizingly be revealed to him. He's going to regret the day he ever messed with us."

Ash and Jenny were running, trying the best they could to keep up with Haru, who was deceptively fast. As they ran, they saw someone laying down in the distance, which made Haru stop. When Ash and Jenny caught up, he was kneeled over a young, dust covered woman. Because of the dust, she was, much like Haru originally, hard to identify. Haru was speaking to her.  
"Was it the black creatures?"  
The woman shook her head yes.  
"Did they bite you?"  
The woman shook her head no.  
"Hurt you?"  
She nodded.  
"Will you be okay?"  
She nodded again.  
"Which way did they go?"  
She pointed in the direction of the pier.  
"And how many?"  
The woman, who was clutching her arm with one hand, pulled it off and raised both hands. She held up Nine Fingers.  
"Nine?"  
"NINE!" Enma had popped back up on the communicator. "This is bad. Ash, Haru, Jenny, you must hurry. If they are multiplying, it won't be much longer before there are too many for you to fight." He paused. "Go, NOW!" Enma was gone. The trio nodded to each other, and after Haru had checked on the woman, they were gone. The woman, however, stood. When they were all out of sight, she shook off the dust, revealing herself. She was about Ash's height, had long black hair, tied mid-way in the back with a red ribbon, and blue eyes. She wore a black, gothic style dress with a white vest over, and the sleeves were tied at the elbow with red ribbons. She smirked, and then walked off in the direction that the others had run off in.

They made it to the pier, but there was nothing there. Nothing but people like Haru, covered in dust, living life as they were. The only thing noticable was a Rift, high in the sky. However, unlike all the previous rifts, this one was pitch black. Ash's communicator came on, but there was static as Ratty spoke.  
"What happen?" Ash lifted the comunicator and messed with a few buttons.  
"What was that, Ratty? I didn't quite catch that."  
"I said, what happened?" Enma came up beside him.  
"Where are they, Ash?"  
Ash looked around, and just as before, there was nothing unusual about. "Nowhere to be found, sir. Only thing odd is that big--"  
"ASH!" Jenny yelled, and Ash jerked his head. Out of the black rift, Nightmares fell from the sky. Ash watched as each one attacked the closest person it landed to. People were dropping dead all over.  
"Fifteen." Apparently, Haru had been counting, as he spoke when the rift closed. Enma popped up again.  
"I don't get it, how are they multiplying?" Enma looked like he was about to wet himself. Suddenly, a loud, sharp whistle came through the air. Each of the fifteen Nightmares lined up. Behind them, nearly everyone that had been lively earlier lay there, dead. Ash was furious, Haru looked as though he had lost a few friends.  
"Oh, so now you want to take us down? Well take this, ya little fucker! SPIRIT GUN!" Ash raised his hand in about half a second, and another second later, there were fourteen left, no sign of the one he had shot at. Enma was back. "Ash, be careful, you only have one left. Now, get ready!"  
The Nightmares looked as if they would charge, but the whistle came again, and the stopped. Haru was confused.  
"What the bloody hell is that? It's as if somebody was controlling them!"  
"I am." A voice came from behind a building, and soon, the one whom it belonged to revealed herself. It was the girl from earlier, and Haru knew it.  
"It's you!" Haru sounded pissed. "You tricked us, didn't you? You sent us this way on purpose. You killed all those people! Explain yourself!"  
"Not that I have to, but before I let my creatures destroy you, I figure I may as well." She walked up, and stood infront of the single file line that the Nightmares had made. "My name is Kanako Urashima, and Master Wayne gave me the ability to control these creatures."  
"Wayne can control Nightmares? Dear Lord." Enma was still there.  
"Shut up, I'm not done." Kanako snapped. "Anyway, it's very simple. I came to Wayne, and told him that I needed help with my big brother, who refuses to love me. Wayne saw my potential, and told me that if I were to take care of a boy by the name of Ash Ketchum, he would help me. I told him I would do whatever. If it's your lives for me to get back the one person who cares about me, so be it"  
"You've gone to the wrong person, Kanako." Ash pleaded. "Wayne won't do jack shit for you. You'll just become one of his lackeys, lingering on empty promises. Then, when you die, he'll look the other way!"  
"SILENCE!" Kanako fumed. "You don't know. He's going to help me, and I'll have what I want when I order these little fools to mindlessly destroy you." The Nightmares behind her seemed to now be communicating with each other. Enma started talking.  
"Kanako, I'd be careful. The Nightmares are smarter than they look..."  
"All you're trying to do is make me drop my guard. These little fools are hardly as big as a brain, how could they have one?"  
Without her knowledge, they were slowly circling around her.  
"Kanako..." Ash tried.  
"No, you won't convert me. Now, then, Nightmares, att- AH!" She jerked her foot back and fell over, landing flat on her butt. "Owww, oww, what the?" She looked at her foot, and only half of it was there. Blood was rushing from her shoe, and as she looked over, one of the Nightmares had half of a leather shoe spat out in front of it. The Nightmare had eaten her foot. Kanako looked scared to death, as she dryly spoke. "Oh, shit..."  
She tried to get up and run, but she ended up falling forward, about ten feet in front of Ash, Jenny, and Haru, as well as Enma and Ratty on the communicator, all of whom could not believe what they were seeing. All fourteen were now slowly eating away at the flesh and bone on her legs, and Kanako screamed out in pain. Blood and bits of flesh occasionally flew through the air, as the Nightmares' eating style was similar to that of a Pirahna. Enma could be heard vomiting madly on the communicator, and Ash wasn't far behind.  
Kanako tried to claw her way forward, but when they had gotten to her mid-section, she simply reached out a hand, and her eyes pleaded, as if begging for help. Everyone was too stupified to do anything. Kanako let it all go. Her head fell foreward. They had gotten up to her chest. Her heart had been devoured. She was living on very little spirit energy. She knew, her death was coming, and she tried to speak her last words. Dryly, they came out.  
"I've...been...t...tricked..." She smiled halfway, blood slowly flowing from the corners of her lips. She coughed out her next words, splattering blood out of her mouth each time she hacked. "Wayne...Riku...coming..." she caughed and choked, as the Nightmares had begin to eat the very flesh and bone that was her face. Before too long, they could even be seen devouring her brain. All that was left was an outstretched arm. A bloody, bony arm was all that was left of Kanako Urashima. Ash let all go, as he knelt over and vomited. A woman had just been completely devoured right infront of him. Enma, who only sounded half over his own sickness, quickly yelled.  
"Ash, look out!" Ash lifted his head, and saw two Nightmares jumping at him. He quickly raised the rift sword and sliced right through them. Twelve to go. "Ash, listen," Enma was frantic and tried to be quick, as Jenny and Haru were each fighting a Nightmare. "I know that was incredibly gruesome, but you have to get on with it. You HAVE to defeat those Nightmares or you'll get the same treatment as Kanako." Enma turned off. He was probably still sick. Ash, sick to his stomach as well, stood and went at it. He sliced three with the Rift Sword, and then Jenny and Haru each beat their own. Jenny used her rockets, and took out two more. Seven left. Five tried to attack Haru, but he took a knife and sliced right through one, Jenny rocketing the other four. Ash took the Rift Sword and tried to slice through the last two, but got only one. Then, the remaining one jumped on Haru's back and sank its fangs into him.  
"Haru!" Ash jumped to an angle, so he had an angled view of the Nightmare on Haru's back. He made his hand into a gun.  
"Ash, no!" Jenny yelled, but it was too late.  
"SPIRIT GUN!" Ash yelled, and a large blue orb hit Haru right in the back and drove the Nightmare into the dusty ground. When the dust cleared, the last Nightmare was gone, but Haru was on the ground. Ash and Jenny ran over.  
"Haru. HARU!" There was a silence, then Haru stirred.  
"I'm alright, they didn't get me. The little bugger didn't get his fangs all the way in"  
"What a relief." Ash and Jenny helped him up and propped him up against the side of a building. Enma and Ratty came up on the communicator.  
"Excellent shot, Ash. Pure EXCELLENCE!" Enma praised Ash for the first time in awhile.  
"Thanks sir." Ash smiled. Then he looked over where Kanako's severed arm lay. He couldn't smile at that. She may have had intent to kill him, but she had just been manipulated by Wayne. "She didn't deserve what happened to her..."  
"And that is why Wayne must be stopped. She is just one of what could be many more. The bite of the Nightmare is not a bad way to go. The death is quick and painless. This was slow and painful. They ate her from the leg up, and then her spirit energy kept her alive. She suffered through every bit of it. Not a good way to go."  
Everyone was silent. Ash had no doubt that Wayne knew this would happen to her. The message became clear to all that day. Wayne was not afraid to do anything. He would do anything and everything to get what he wanted.

There was a bright light in the second stall. Riku shielded his eyes, but when he took his arm down. There was Wayne. He smirked.  
"Didn't want to have to show myself to all these filthy humans." Wayne said egotistically.  
"I agree completely, sir. By the way, did you want me to wait here?" Riku inquired "I did, I assume Kanako delivered the message?"  
"Yeah."  
"And what was her fate?"  
"I can no longer sense her Spirit Energy. She has been taken care of."  
"Good, good. Now come along. Another rift has openend, I can feel it."  
"Is there something special about this next world, sir?"  
"Nothing."  
"Then why--"  
"Because you and I are about to show the Ketchum boy our true power."  
They both let out evil laughs together, then, with a spring, jumped through the rift, which closed right behind them.

After what seemed like hours, Enma broke the silence.  
"Well, as if it isn't enough, I have more bad news. But I do have some good to go along with it."  
"May as well get the bad news out of the way first. Not much can top what I just saw." Ash said. Ratty came up on screen.  
"The bad news is, we searched the entire Spirit World Archives, and there ain't jack shit on Riku Yukimora."  
"What?"  
"He has no file. And I don't just mean criminal records. I mean nothing. Not even a personal file. It's as if he doesn't exist!"  
"Hmmmm..." Ash seemed to be onto something, but Enma broke his concentration. "Not now Ash, you need to get moving. The good news is, another Rift has opened. Just a few hundred feet from where you stand. It's out there, on the shore."  
"Well, let's go, Jenny."  
"Right."  
"Farewell, Haru, and good luck." Ash waved goodbye to Haru.  
"Bye Haru. Maybe we'll meet again someday!" Jenny waved as well.  
Haru raised his own hand. "Goodbye, guys." Ash and Jenny ran off, then Enma came up on screen again.  
"Hurry, Ash. This is bad!"  
"What?"  
"I can sense them. Riku has followed you to this dimension. And he's got Wayne with him..."  
"Shit!"  
"There it is. Go, now!"  
Ash didn't even respond. He cut through the air as fast as he could, and saw yet another rift in front of him.  
"GO!" Enma was apparently scared. Things just seemed to be going from bad to worse.  
Ash and Jenny didn't need to be told. They leaped through with a huge jump, and were falling through space and time itself. Though, the Rift did not close, and with that door open, anything was possible...


	6. Chapter 6

Pokewing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 6 

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon and PAEC, with help from Rob Volzke 

For the fifth time people, the disclaimer is in the first episode, so please, read it there. Let's get on with episode 6!

Wayne and Riku landed on their feet, and a pile of dust rose from the ground. They were on Garage Island. The two looked around, then Riku spoke.  
"Look." he said. He bent down. When he rose back up, he held a bloody, severed arm in his hands. The severed arm of Kanako Urashima. Wayne laughed evilly.  
"Do you think that sent the point across?" Wayne smirked. He seemed to be enjoying the thought of Kanako's gruesome death, and Riku was right up there with him.  
"Of course, Wayne. I could feel it. The sickness in their stomachs, they did not take their eyes off of the scene. Just as we intended, the Nightmares devoured everything of her, even her Spirit Energy. All that is left of Kanako Urashima is this." Riku held up the arm, then, with his other hand, snapped it in half at the elbow, and threw it in a nearby river. "And now, she is dead." Wayne begin to laugh, prompting Riku to look over at him, puzzled.  
"No, no, no, my boy. She is not dead." Wayne said, causingRiku toraise a brow. Wayne continued. "Do you not know why I brought the Nightmares back specifically for this purpose?"  
"I actually was a little curious. But when I felt how it happened, I couldn't help but think it was a smart move." Riku said,still somewhat confused.  
"You see, Riku. When one is eaten, not bitten, but EATEN, by a Nightmare, which is a rare act in itself, then something happens. The user does not die. Well, physically, the one who is devoured does die, but their soul, their soul lives on in an alternate dimension. One that cannot be accessed by the means you and I have been using."  
"Oh?"  
"No, this dimension only opens about, oh, once every hundred billion years."  
"Damn..."  
"That's not all, though. You see, when one's soul is sent there through being consumed, it becomes everlasting. But the dimension is a world of pain and misery. In the dimension, your soul is tortured, digested, beaten, battered, bruised, everything. It is a spiritual Hell, and the pain only stops when the dimension is balanced. Seeing as how the rift was only ever open once, the dimension has never been balanced. Therefore, all souls that rest in there, are doomed to eternal tourture."  
Riku turned his head and spat. "Feh, sucks for poor Urashima then, now don't it?"  
"And that's exactly why I wanted it to be this way for her."  
"That's why you're the boss." Riku smirked. "Oh, uhh, wait. If the last time it was open was the beginning of time, that would mean it should be opening again soon."  
"Hey!" Riku was cut off. A man with silver hair and purple eyes had come to them. "Oh, my bad. I was making sure you weren't nightmares. The little fuckers have been coming through in full force." It was the man called Haru, whom Ash and Jenny had just left a few days ago, as far as the time in this dimension was. When Wayne and Riku said nothing, Haru went on. "You guys probably don't want to stay here long. That rift just closed, but there's another one over there near the pier. You should go to it."  
Wayne and Riku shot each other quick looks to one another, then back to Haru. The two nodded to him, then ran off. Riku seemed confused, and spoke when the rift was right in front of them.  
"We let him live?"  
"You'll like what's coming better." Wayne seemed to have everything planned out. "Now listen to me Riku. We are jumping through this rift, but wherever we land, we are to distance ourselves from. Our move will not be made for a day, as far as the dimension's time goes." Riku was again, confused.  
"Wayne, you must have something special, you are being much too cautious. It's not like you." Wayne merely laughed.  
"Riku, you will understand soon enough. We are going to draw the line, and we are going to make our REAL impression."  
"Alright," Riku sighed. "But It must be special if it's changed your attitude."  
"Only for the time being. Now come on."  
Riku nodded and the pair of villians leapt through the rift, in hot pursuit of Ash Ketchum and Jenny Wakeman.

Ash and Jenny had been falling for what seemed like no time, when the swirling mixture of space and time was gone, and they were falling out of the sky into what appeared to be a large metropolis.  
THUD! Ash hit the concrete hard. Jenny, who could actually fly, hovered down beside him. Enma popped up on the wrist communicator.  
"Ash, are you okay?" Ash got up, rubbing his jaw.  
"Yeah, I'm fine." he said, now rubbing his head. Ratty appeared on the communicator beside Enma.  
"Then you better move yo' ass now, boy, because you landed in the middle of the road."  
As if on cue, there was the honk of a horn, and when Ash looked behind him, and saw a large blue SUV going full speed right at him. Lucky for Ash, Jenny was there to pull him out of the way. All four of them, Ash, Ratty, Enma, and Jenny, sighed with relief.  
"Dammit, Ash." Enma scolded. "It's one thing to almost die by Riku, or Wayne, or Nightmares. But to nearly get run down by a car!"  
"Gonna have to put you on hold, Enma, I don't think I'm out of the woods yet." Ash clicked off the communicator. The Blue SUV had stopped, and the driver had stepped out. She was a a woman, with long brown hair, who appeared to be somewhere in her late twenties. She was wearing a buisness looking suit, but she looked pissed.  
"YOU!" Her tone of voice was loud and obnoxious sounding, but that may have been due to the fact that she was yelling.  
"Me?" Ash seemed intimidated.  
"Me?" Jenny didn't know what to think.  
"BOTH OF YOU! Stupid kids. You're trying to skip school, well NOT ON YUKARI TANAZAKI'S WATCH! C'MERE!"  
The woman grabbed Ash by the collar and Jenny by the neck (apparently not noticing that Jenny was made of metal) and tossed them in the backseat of her car. She got into the front seat and continued to drive on. Ash was about to speak, but then he heard another woman's voice.  
"Yukari, what was it this time?" It was the woman in the front seat, who had apparently not noticed Ash and Jenny being in the car.  
"Kids back there, thinking they can skip, well, NOT THIS TIME!" The woman, identified as Yukari, spoke. The other woman sighed.  
"Well, I don't-" She paused when she looked back into the backseat. She had blue hair, and matching blue eyes. Her hair was short in the back but she had two long strands of hair that hung down each side of her face in the front. She was shocked. "YUKARI, YOU CAN'T JUST GO KIDNAPPING KIDS OFF THE STREET! HOW DO YOU KNOW THEY EVEN GO TO OUR SCHOOL!" The woman did a double take. "And the blue one is a robot!" The car came to a screeching hault, in front of what looked like a very presigeous high school. Both Yukari and the unidentified woman were staring at Jenny.  
"A robot, huh?" Yukari didn't seem to be in the least bit surprised. There was an akward pause, and Ash finally got a chance to speak.  
"We don't go to this school, or any school, Ma'am. Neither of us are from around here."  
"Well, that makes sense, yeah Nyamo?" Yukari looked to the blue-haired woman on her right, whom she referred to as Nyamo.  
"Yeah, that part's understandable, I mean, I've never seen either of them around." There was another pause, before Nyamo spoke again. "But that still doesn't explain what you were doing in the middle of the road." Yukari nodded in agreement.  
"Well, that's explainable, but it's a long story." Jenny said. Both of the women seemed surprised to see her actually talk. Nyamo checked her wristwatch.  
"Well, thanks to you sending Yukari here into one of her drunken rages, we were able to get here about 15 minutes early."  
"HEY!" Yukari glared at her.  
"Well, it's true." Nyamo sighed. "Anyway, go ahead. We're listening."  
So Ash and Jenny told the story of what Wayne was, how Ash and Jenny had met, how they had slaughtered Vexus, then got the tables turned on them by Riku, then found their way to Garage Island, leaving out the details of Kanako's untimely death, neither of them wanting to remember it, and how the next rift had landed them here. And they had somehow managed to do it in 13 minutes. At the end of the tale, neither Nyamo or Yukari seemed to buy it.  
"Well, it seems really farfetched," Nyamo commented, "But unless you planned all this, that is something pretty hard to make up off the top of your head."  
"I ain't buyin' it." Yukari made a little motion with her hand. Ash was mad.  
"Look, lady, if you don't believe me take a look at this." he said. He held up the Rift Sword, which he could now shift freely between hands. Yukari took a look at it.  
"Just looks like a toy sword to me. But you say the thing can open these so-called 'rifts'?"  
"Yes." Ash grinned, "And I'm the only one who can wield it. If you don't believe me, try to touch it. You'll see why." Yukari smirked and laughed.  
"Ha, yeah, sure, I'll touch it. What's the worst that- AH!", she had reached forward and touched it, immediately drawing her hand back. "Damn you! How are you holding that, it's white hot! OW!" Ash girnned.  
"Not to me it ain't." he smiled. "Now, do you believe me?" Yukari was still blowing onto her hand, trying to cool it off.  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I do"  
"Now, what are we supposed to do?" Jenny inquired. "This is a huge city, we don't know our way around, and I don't think there's any huge problem here. Is there?", Enma came up on Ash's wrist communicator, causing both of the ladies to 'Ooooohh' at it.  
"Jenny's right. Unlike the last dimensions you two were in, this one does not seem to be driving any conflict." the lord of the Spirit World said.  
"What are you saying, Enma sir?" Ash lifted his arm up.  
"I'm saying you've stumbled upon a peaceful dimension. Aside from the troubles of daily life, there is no life-threatening cause here. No Cluster, no Nightmares, nothing. All that goes on in this dimension, as far as I can tell, is a peaceful world." Ash thought for a moment.  
"Enma, sir?"  
"Yes Ash?"  
"There's really no need for us to hurry up and leave this place, is there?" he asked, andEnma sighed.  
"I knew that was coming." Ratty came up and whispered something in his ear. "Hmmm? Oh, okay fine you're right."  
"Damn right I'm right, fool." came Ratty's reply.  
"Ash, tell you what. You and Jenny both have worked hard lately. You can have two days in that dimension, provided you can find shelter, and the whatnot. You're on a very small break, Ash. Now have fun.Ratty and Ihave research to do."  
"Research?" Ratty wasn't expecting that. "This blows!"  
"Shut up and come on!"  
"Suck it." Ratty followed Enma off-screen, then the communicator turned itself off. There was another pause, and students could now be seen outside entering the school as a bell rang.  
"Well, Yukari, what are we supposed to do with them?" Nyamo asked.Yukari shrugged, causing Nyamo to sigh frustratedly. "Well, I have 1st Period off. I can drive them to a hotel or something, do you kids have any money?"  
Ash and Jenny shook their heads no.  
"Well, this is great. Look, Nyamo," Yukari said. "Leave this to me. They can stay outside and watch your class or something."  
"Excuse me, but who are you to put all this on me?"  
"Do you really think I need any more kids than I already have? Just do it. Okay? Thanks, see ya later." Yukari waltzed out of the vehicle, humming 'La la la' as if she had just gotten away with something. Nyamo looked pissed, but she just sighed.  
"Well, Ash I can handle, but Jenny, I don't want to have to explain you to the kids. Here, I think I have some clothes that would fit you in the back, hold on.", Nyamo got some clothes, and by the time they stepped out of her SUV, Jenny was wearing a red, long sleeve shirt that was a little too tight, and some loose jeans that were suspended by a belt. She also had on a baseball cap. To Nyamo's credit, she DID look human enough. Nyamo ran into the school and checked in, Ash and Jenny both drawing weird looks from students who were arriving late. When Nyamo returned, she directed them to a bench in what appeared to be a Physical Education area.  
Every time the bell would ring, a new group of students would come, all of them giving side looks at Ash and Jenny, who, though disguised well, did seem to have something strange to her skin-tone. Nyamo seemed to just be making up reasons as to why they were there. Family, They were "surveying, and they were "Transfers-to-be" among other reasons they heard. Ash sighed. This may have been a break, but so far it wasn't much fun, though he couldn't complain from seeing some of the girls in their skimpy PE uniforms. By the time midday rolled around there was a small pool of blood on the ground directly under his face.

Two men walked out of a City Park, one which was apparently empty. Their faces were hidden by the shade of the trees, but when they stepped out into the warm, bright, Spring air, it was no mistake. Riku and Wayne had found their way to this dimension.  
"So," Riku spoke, taking a step forward. "This is a different dimensions version of Tokyo, Japan. Hmmm?", Riku fell silent. After a moment, he closed his eyes, and quieted his breathing. Wayne stepped forward.  
"I don't know what you're doing, but we're wasting time." Wayne said, looking impatient.  
"Sorry, Sir.", Riku said, opening his eyes. "I just...thought I sensed something."  
"Ketchum?"  
"No, no. It's nothing important.", he said. He was quiet, then spoke in his normal tone. "Where are we hiding out?"  
"Follow me. I have shortened our plans. In just a few hours, we will begin my plan. Now follow me, we must prepare. And keep your Spirit Energy completely cloaked. Ash can not yet sense Spirit Energy, but that bastard Enma can. And there may yet be another in this dimension who can. That is why I have plotted this. Now come."  
Wayne began to walk on the sidewalk, and Riku followed. Even Riku did not understand what was to happen. The only person in the whole dimension with a plan at the time was Wayne Williams.

The bell rang for the first time, and a rather peculiar class came this time. Something about six of the girls made them stand out. One was tall and hand long blue hair that reached down to her rear. The second was shorter, but seemed like the most athletic of the group. She had short brown hair. The third was about the same height as the previous, and she had long brown hair, and glasses. The next one had a large grin on her face as she leaned against the previous one. She was shorter, and had short black hair. The fifth one was very short, and looked about like an elementary school kid, to the point where Ash felt like asking about her. She had orange hair, done up in pigtails. The last girl was slightly taller than the little one, and she had shoulder length brown hair, and had an incredebly spacey and oblivious look about her.  
As Nyamo was explaining one of her phony reasons to these girls (as well as the rest of the 4th Block Class), Ash's wrist communicator went off, causing Ash and Jenny to jump and everyone to look over at Ash. Enma was trying to talk, though Ash had covered it with his hands. For the first time in hours, he spoke.  
"Excuse me, Ms. Nyamo." he called. Without waiting for clearance, he ran off and hid behind Nyamo's blue SUV. After making sure that nobody could hear him, he moved his hand, seeing a pissed Enma.  
"What's your deal, Ash?"  
"Sorry, sir. I just didn't want to have to explain everything to a bunch of good-looking high school women."  
"Pervert..." Enma whispered.  
"What was that!"  
"Well, did you notice anything off about any of the girls?"  
"Yeah, there were six of them that seemed really to stand out." Ash went through the descriptions of the six girls who had caught his eye. Enma perked up on the last one.  
"Yes, her. Ash, I could feel her."  
"But, Enma, can't you only sense people by their Spirit Energy?"  
"Yes, Ash, and that's exactly my point. That girl has Spirit Energy. Though, from what I can feel, it is idle. She does not know how to harness it.". He went into thought for a moment. "But never you mind, you get back to enjoying yourself. I'll look into this. Enma out." The screen turned off. Ash gave a heavy sigh as he walked back. As he got closer, he thought he saw something shiny. And sure enough, when he got closer, Jenny had been ripped of her disguise, and was now being questioned by the six girls. Everyone else apparently had gone inside. Ash ran back over, and then the girls were standing in front of him.  
"We wanna know who you are." one said.  
"WHAT you are is more like it." another said.  
"Do y'all wanna help me save Chiyo-chan from her pigtails?" the spacy one said. Jenny had to intervene.  
"Girls, GIRLS!" Jenny silenced them. "Before Ash answers anything, each of you, introduce yourselves.". They all lined up and introduced themselves from left to right.  
"I'm Sakaki." the tall one with the long, blue hair introduced herself. Her voice was quaint and soft.  
"Kagura here." said the athletic one. Her voice had a determined tone to it.  
"Yomi Mizuhara." the one with the glasses and the long brown hair said with a smile. She had a very slight southern accent, but her voice was soft.  
"Tomo Takino, the Wildcat High-School girl!" said the small one with the really short black hair. Like Yukari, her voice was loud and obnoxious.  
"I'm Chiyo Mihama. Pleased to meet you." the small orange-haired one said, bowing politely with her introduction. Her voice was squeaky, and Ash wouldn't have been surprised if her voice hadn't changed yet.  
"And I'm Osaka!" the spacey-looking one said. Her voice matched her appearance, as she had a light Osakan accent. Everyone else sighed.  
"Uhhm, Miss Osaka?" Chiyo said, "Shouldn't you give them your REAL name before your nickname?"  
"Huh?" Osaka seemed confused. "Are ya sayin' Osaka ain't my real name? Are ya sayin' I'm a fake?" She shut her eyes and placed her hands on her head. "I'm so confused!" Everyone else sighed and spoke in unison.  
"This is Ayumu Kasuga, but you can just call her Osaka." Osaka sprang back up.  
"Oh, right. I'm Osaka!" she said. Everyone sighed once more.  
"Okay then," Yomi said, breaking the silence. "Now that we have that out of the way, tell us everything."  
For the second time the day, Ash explained everything that had happened. Even when the bell rang and Ash was only halfway through the story, the girls stayed and listened. By the time the story was done, the day was over, and the girls were getting a scolding from Nyamo.  
"Now you girls still have classes. A visitor does not entitle you to skip. You will all run extra come Monday, is that understood?"  
"Yes ma'am.", the girls said in unison, as they all went back into the school to change out of their PE uniforms. Yukari came out as the group walked past. She turned and yelled to the girls.  
"Hey! Don't forget, we're all going to Chiyo's summer home today! Hurry up and come on, we're leaving from here!" Yukari shouted to them as she turned. She walked over to where Ash was explaining himself to Nyamo.  
"I'm sorry Ms. Nyamo, I just couldn't stop."  
"Well, just don't let it happen again." Nyamo sighed.  
"Don't worry, we're only staying around for a while. We'll probably try to find a Rift back to our place tomorrow."  
"Well, until then, you'll be coming with us. We're all taking a trip to Chiyo's summer Home. She won't mind, at least, I don't think."  
"No, not at all.". In a bit of a startling appearence, Chiyo was now right beside them. She was wearing a pink shirt with blue overalls. She had apparently finished dressing before the rest. "It's fine."  
"Thanks, Chiyo." Jenny smiled and they high-fived, Chiyo shaking her hand a bit aferwards, forgetting that Jenny was made of metal.  
The five of them stood there and waited for the rest of the girls.

"It's time." Wayne said. He and Riku had been doing nothing but walking around for hours.  
"Beg pardon, sir?" Riku spoke to him. He was confused by the whole day in general.  
"It's time to do what we will, Riku. Now, follow my spirit energy as we teleport. I will lead you to our destination, and you will know what to do."  
"Yes sir." Riku somehow had a feeling. A good feeling, an evil feeling. With that, the two unleashed their Spirit Energy, and seconds later, vanished into thin air.

All of the girls had now gathered outside, under the tree near the PE area. Suddenly, Osaka looked completely shocked, and moments later, Enma came up on Ash's wrist communicator.  
"Ash, they're here!" Enma said, looking extremely afraid, and he spoke hastily and urgently. Ash responded with urgency as well.  
"Enma, what? Who?"  
"We are." Ash's question was answered, and to his horror, by the one person he did not want to hear. He turned around, and there, standing on one side, was the masculine man with shoulder lengh black hair, and to the other side, a smaller man with grungy red hair. Wayne and Riku had found them.  
"We meet again, Ash." Wayne said, smirking.  
"Wayne!", Ash said, his fists clenched, wondering how Wayne had found them. Wayne, taking notice of this, said, "You look ready to fight. To the DEATH, perhaps?" and as he said this, his smirk became a sneer.  
"You...bastard...because of you, people have died...I won't allow you to continue these heinous acts!" Ash said, then, screaming at the top of his lungs, he charged Wayne and let a flurry of punches fly, the latter simply dodging all of his attacks. Wayne, still sneering, turned around, delivering a quick kick to Ash's back, which sent him sprawling across the turf, then rolling several feet.  
"Ash!" Jenny shouted, then ran over to him.  
"Get away...he'll get you too." Ash said weakly. Jenny lifted his shirt to check for bruises, and sure enough, there was a huge bruise across his lower back.  
"You scum..." Jenny said.  
"What did I tell you last time we met, Ash? You're no match for Wayne. Don't even try to resist what's about to happen." Riku said, with a laugh.  
"What do you mean, 'what's about to happen'!" Ash asked, a scowl on his face.  
"You know, Ash..." Wayne said, the sneer never once leaving his face, "This is a big town. There are a LOT of people, I imagine..."  
"What're you bastards getting at?" Ash said as he tried to get up. However, it was an exercise in futility, which just brought him more pain. He winced, dropping back down.  
"Oh, not a thing, not a thing." Riku said, now sporting a large arrogant grin on his face. "It's just that, well, Wayne hasn't killed anyone in quite a while, have you Wayne?"  
"No, no I haven't." Wayne chuckled. By this point, the eight girls were petrified. Not a one of them had heard talk like this in their lives. Chiyo was even on the ground crying, and it was all Wayne could stand.  
"Then again. Why just this town?" Riku asked Wayne.  
"You're absolutely right. It will be this entire dimension." Wayne answered. They both laughed, and then they were gone, vanished into thin air.  
"Where'd they go?" Jenny was looking around, as was Ash. All the girls were extremely confused, then Enma spotted him from the communicator.  
"Up there!" he shouted. Everyone looked up, and saw Wayne and Riku, standing on top of the school.  
"What are you...!"  
"Simple, really." Wayne said, smirking once more. He raised his left hand, and pointed it at a building across the street. A small purple ball began to glow at the tip of his finger.  
"Dear lord, no. He's not." Enma and Ash said in perfect unison. But Wayne did make their fears reality.  
"DEVIL GUN!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, and the purple ball became a beam, which made the building he was aiming it at explode seconds later. The once four-story skyscraper was not even three feet off the ground now, in flames and smoke. Ash, Jenny, Enma and Ratty were in shock. The eight girls were scared to death. Chiyo, Yomi, Tomo, and Osaka were crying, Nyamo and Yukari were hanging onto each other for dear life. Tomo was gaping, Sakaki and Kagura were looking away, fighting off tears. Riku looked like he was insanely happy.  
"My turn." he said, grinning.  
"NO!" Ash shouted at the top of his lungs, hoping his words would stop Riku, but they did not. He took aim at the park across the street. Hundreds of people were staring at him, including kids. He pulled his hand into a fist, and it began to glow with an orange aura.  
"FIST OF THE MORTAL FLAME!" Riku shouted, thrusting his fist at the park. Seconds later, no life was there, and the park, as well as a good chunk of land around it, was in nothing but flames and ruin.  
"Now do you see, Ash?" Wayne spoke, with arrogance in his voice. "We are going to use this world as an example. What we do to this world, we will do to yours. DEVIL GUN!". Wayne fired it off again, this time at a crowded four-way intersection. Many cars were destroyed.  
"Ash, get out of there now!" Enma shouted. He knew that if they did not act, they would be destroyed.  
"Right!" Ash said. With haste, he moved all the girls behind Nyamo's blue SUV. Yukari, however, tripped, and Riku saw this. He aimed his fist. Nyamo saw this, and tears started to roll down her eyes.  
"NO! NOOO!"  
"FIST OF THE MORTAL FLAME!" Riku shouted, and within seconds, Yukari was gone. The ground next to them was flaming. Nyamo leaned back and fainted. Riku and Wayne could be heard laughing as they continued firing Spirit Energy off.  
"Enma..." Ash said urgently, "There's no way out. What're we supposed to do?". The tone in his voice indicated that he despised the thought of escape.  
"Well, Ash, there's only one way. Get ready. I'm using everything I have to bring you here. There will be a rift, open for five seconds. You have to get those girls in, or they'll die. That dimension's crumbling as we speak."  
Enma opened a rift, and Ash was somehow able to usher everyone in before it closed. Within seconds, they were all sitting in a room. Across a desk from them were Enma, Ratty, and Botan. This was the room of the overlord of the Spirit World.

Enma had pulled a monitor down, and it was right there before them. Riku and Wayne, right there, on the screen, destryoing every part of the world that these girls had came from. All were watching except for Nyamo, who was being tended to by Chiyo and Osaka, what with her best friend being blown to pieces in front of her. She was beside herself. Then, it happened. Massive cracks were being made in the streets of the alternate Tokyo, without the help of Wayne or Riku. It was as Enma had said...the world itself was crumbling. Wayne suddenly stopped blasting, then, with a smirk, said to Riku, "See, this is much better. This dimension's Earth is tearing itself apart in agony, due to us destroying a good deal of its landmass. Now, my young apprentice, let us show this world its final moment." Wayne smirked. As horrifying as this was, all eyes were glued to the screen. What came next was a shocker.  
Wayne crossed his arms across his chest, and seemed to be speaking something. Between all the chaos in the world, and the fact that he was almost whispering, it was nowhere close to audible, but that wasn't it. Wayne shot his eyes open, flinging his arms out to his side. He now stood in the shape of a cross, a black aura surrounding his back. Then, it began to bulge, and move, then, in one movement, they were out. No one in the room could believe it.  
"Jesus Christ." Enma spoke, under his breath.  
Wayne now had, sprouting from his back, a pair of six foot long, solid black, feathery, angel wings. He spread them wide.  
"Come Riku, we will finish them now." Wayne spoke, beckoning for Riku. When he was close enough, Wayne took Riku, and held him around the chest with his right arm. His left hand free, he used his wings, and flew high up into the air. When the two were a few hundred feet off the ground, it happened.  
Riku fully extended his left arm, then, his right, placing his hands over top one another. After a moment, a white, shining ball appeared in his hands. After a few seconds of charging, the ball was easily the size of a semitruck. It was clear, this blast would use all of his spirit power.  
"DEATH RAY!" he shouted. He aimed the blast directly at the ground below him and Wayne, and the school, along with everything as far as the eye could see, had now crumbled, and nothing remained but scorched earth. Wayne fired seconds later, his left hand yet again forming a gun, and he shouted the name of his only known attack.  
"DEVIL GUN!" he shouted. He fired, the shot as big as the one Riku had shot. There was a huge, brilliant explosion. When the dust finally cleared, Wayne and Riku were still in the air, but now a rift stood open beside them. The world below began to crumble. Cracks formed in the earth, not caused by either villain, with flames erupting forth from them. The alternate dimension's structure had finally given way. Soon, the world would be gone.  
"It's done, Wayne." Riku said, an evil smile on his face.  
"Yes." Wayne remarked, "Now, we will go, and watch this world crumble behind us."  
They laughed, and then Wayne flew into the rift, carrying Riku behind him. The rift closed, and the world which they had left behind slowly fell apart. Enma, knowing that nobody needed to see anymore than they had to, turned the monitor off. They all turned to face him, every one of them heartbroken.  
"I...can't find the words for this." Enma said. Though his voice sounded calm, it was clear he was only staying calm to attempt to get everything straight. "I must say it's my fault. Ash and Jenny should have left that world the moment they got there. There was no reason for them to get there, and I was foolish for thinking there was no way for Wayne and Riku to find their way to your world. For that, I apologize."  
"It won't bring them back..." Kagura spoke, tears running down the side of her face. "It won't bring a damn one of them back."  
"I realize that Kagura. I have made a huge mistake as overlord of the Spirit World. Don't think I'm not going to scold myself for this, because I am."  
"And what about us?" Yomi spoke, angrily. "What are we supposed to do? We have no home now, our world is GONE!"  
"You will all stay here. Until we can ensure that you can be safely relocated to a different world, you will all reside in my castle. I know it is no replacement for your home, but we have no guarentee that Wayne wouldn't try to hunt you down and kill you. Just be happy you all escaped with your lives."  
"We all DIDN'T!" Nyamo finally spoke. Her face was red and puffy as could be, and her voice was grieving. "Yukari didn't. She's gone forever now. I'll never see her again, all because of you!". She fell to her knees and was crying again.  
"I take full responsibility for all of this, Nyamo. And Yukari may be dead, but you can still see her. This is the Spirit World. Her spirit will live on here."  
"I just don't know what to think anymore." Nyamo spoke softly.  
"None of us do." Enma sighed, and took a momentary pause. How could things get any worse?

The Great Library. A huge room full of books, records, and everything of the sort. It was unoccupied right now, all but for one soul. Ratty, who had been put to the task of compiling the records for the seven girls that had come through from the Alternate destroyed dimension (Codenamed: Azu) and getting the records ready for Tanazaki Yukari, who would be schedualed to be evaluated upon entering the Spirit World.  
"Man, this blows." Ratty said, to nobody in particular, obviously not too happy about having to be the file-looker-upper. "Let's see." He had found the files, and was merely skimming through them. "Mizhuara, check. Takino, check. Sakaki, check. Mihama, check. Kurosawa, check. Kasuga, che- WHAT?" Ratty lay Chiyo's file down and re-picked up Nyamos'. "What the bloody hell?" He slowly read off the file.  
"Name: Minamo Kurosawa. Age, Height, Weight, Martial Hist, Offspring...Jesus, can it be?" he asked, to nobody in particular. He pulled out another file, stored in his fur. He looked between that file and Nyamo's. "Oh fucking snap...Lord Enma has to see this. BOTAN!"  
Ratty shouted her name, and Botan came rushing in. "What is it, Ratty?"  
"You take care of the Azu filing, girl, I got something urgent, Enma needs to see. Oh, SNAP!"  
Ratty ran out as fast as he could run on four furry little legs, with Nyamo's file in his mouth, leaving Botan standing there flustered. Frustratedly, she began to file the Azu files neatly, as Ratty was on his way to Enma.

Enma had just finished showing the last of the girls their rooms in the castle. When Kagura thanked him dully and shut her door, it left Enma one on one with Ash and Jenny.  
"You two certainly have seen a lot the past two days." he said.  
"Yeah.", Ash said, reflecting on Kanako's death and the destruction of a world moments ago. Jenny had no response.  
"As sad as this may sound, I only hope it has opened your eyes. It has shown me one thing. Wayne means buisness this time. I seriously hope you understand that."  
"I do...I DO!" Ash said, suddenly looking angry. "And I'm going to stop him. I don't give a rat's ass if I die in the process, I'm going to stop Wayne!"  
"Ash..."  
"He destroyed millions of people right before my eyes. He could do the same thing to an infinite amount of others. I WILL stop him!"  
"The confidence is good Ash, but--"  
"Enma! Lord Enma!", came a scratchy voice from behind them. Enma turned around, Ratty stood behind him, now with the file in his paws.  
"You're supposed to be filing!"  
"Trust me, Enma. This is important, c'mere." Enma kneeled down on Ratty's level, his back to Ash and Jenny, so neither of them could see what was going on. Ratty opened the file and pointed at something, and Enma expressed his shock.  
"What? Are you sure!"  
"Yes sir, I double-checked."  
"There's no mistake?"  
"None. And look here..."  
"I see. That's why there is no file..."  
"You know he'll come soon."  
"Yes, before long, he will feel this. We are going to have a visitor."  
"And who's going to be the bearer of news?"  
"Botan. Woman-on-Woman is the best way to break this sort of thing."  
"Shall I get her?"  
"Yes, please Ratty." Enma said, standing up and nodding to his furry companion. "Good work. Now tell Botan what she needs to do."  
"Aye sir." Ratty saluted, and ran off. "Dayumn." could be heard under his breath, as he left. Enma turned around, to see puzzled expressions on Ash and Jenny's faces.  
"Sir?" Jenny inquired.  
"Never you mind, you two." he said, clearing his throat. "You two are both to leave now. I have opened a rift that will lead you to your next destination. Come with me." Enma walked off, and Ash and Jenny followed. Though both were wondering, 'What was the important news that Ratty had discovered?' As they followed Enma to the new rift, both figured that it couldn't be anything good.

Minamo Kurosawa sat on her bed in this new room she had been given, which was actually rather nice. There was a kictchen, a bathroom, everything, but it in no way shape or form did it replace her original home. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. She sighed. Who would want to see her now? Probably one of the girls. "It's open." she said uncaringly. To her surprise, it was not one of the girls, or this Enma fellow who came. It was a girl alright, but she had blue hair, and clad herself in a pink kimono.  
"I'm Botan.", she said, introducing herself. "I'm a ferry girl for the Spirit World, as well as one of Ash's assistants."  
"And why am I supposed to care?" Nyamo frowned. Botan sighed.  
"Well, it's just, there's something we've discovered. You might want to sit down." Botan walked farther into the room, pulling out a file, and closed and locked the door behind her.

"Here it is." Enma said, pointing to the hole in space and time that he stood right beside. "I've opened it up for just you two. This will take you where you need to go. Now step in, I cannot have you here when he who is on his way arrives." Ash and Jenny shot each other confused looks.  
"Enma, sir, what..." Ash tried to ask, but Enma held up a hand.  
"It means nothing to you, but I am ordering you to get back onto your business. You're back on duty, Ash. You too, Jenny. Is that understood?"  
"Yes, sir." the two said in unison.  
"Good. Now go, kids. The end isn't here yet. What you have saw is only what could come to be. But all that happens from here on out, it all rests with you."  
The two teens nodded and jumped through the rift. A few seonds later, after making sure the two had gotten far enough in, Enma closed the rift. He walked back to his desk and sat down, resting his head in his hands, and sighed.  
"So," he monolouged. "This is what we're dealing with. Congratulations, Wayne, you've made yourself blatantly clear." He sighed again, then closed his eyes. "He will be here soon. I only hope he will come as I feel he will." He was silent, then averted his eyes backward. "And now she knows. I can feel it." He sighed for a third time, then allowed his head to droop. "We have reached the turning point. It's gonna be pretty damn interesting from here on out."  
Enma leaned back in his chair, his mind heavy with thought, his shoulders weighed down by guilt. All in all, the Overlord of the Spirit World knew, everything that had been in the dark was now starting to bloom, and hopefully soon, all would be unveiled.

Authors note: Hey, it's PAEC. I essentially wrote this episode, because the characters and the world were not known by Dustin, but that is not to say he didn't help. Like always, I probably couldn't pull it off without Dustin. Rob too, for that matter. Anywho, what will happen next? What treacherous thing will the villains pull next? Will our heroes be able to stop them, and what was so important that Ratty discovered in the file? Find out, next time, on PokeWing Z: Dimension Rifters.


	7. Chapter 7

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 7 

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon and Caleb McGlone, with help from Rob Volzke. 

Yet again, disclaimer. First episode. Read there. On with episode 7.

Ash was starting to grow used to falling now, even though this was only the fourth rift he had fallen through. Once again, he and Jenny, or rather, just he, had fallen onto another rooftop, only this time, it didn't seem to be a house. If it was, it was a really small house. No, this appeared to be a shed. "What ARE you doing up there, young man?" came the voice of a female. Ash looked down, and saw a woman with brown hair, semi-curling off to both sides. She stared up at him with stern green eyes.  
"Uh, sorry about that." Ash said, then looked up at Jenny. "Hey, why didn't you catch me!"  
"Excuse me!" Jenny shouted down to him. "I'm not gonna save your ass from falling every time we go through one of these rifts!"  
"My, that robot has a mouth on it." the woman said, completely unflinching to the fact that Jenny was a robot. She turned her head upward to Jenny and shouted "Are you one of Jimmy's creations that he didn't want me or his father to find out about?"  
"Jimmy?" Jenny asked, cocking a metallic "eyebrow".  
"Here, let me get him for you, just a second." the lady said, knocking on the door of the shed that Ash was still sitting on top of, and which Jenny had now landed on. A moment later, a boy emerged.  
"What is it, Mom?" the boy asked. He was wearing a red t-shirt and blue jeans, but that wasn't what stuck out about him. Rather, it was his head. His large, misshapen head. He had a long, slender head, with straight brown hair that curled off at the top. His head reminded Ash of chocolate ice cream. He held in his hand, a device that looked slightly like a radar of some sorts, and was blinking.  
"Is this robot one of yours?" Jimmy's mother asked, pointing up to Jenny. As Jimmy turned around, he eyed Jenny.  
"I definitely didn't build this one, Mom, so if it goes crazy and starts destroying town, I'm not at fault." Jimmy said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to put the finishing touches on this Rift Locator."  
"Wait!" Ash, who had remained silent, suddenly spoke up. "You know about the rifts?"  
"Wait a second yourself." Jimmy said. "Who the heck are you?"  
The two stared each other down, and Ash knew they may have stumbled upon some help here.

Lord Enma sat at his desk, many filed and unfiled papers infront of him. Enma, however, paid attention to none of this. Rather, he had his head cradled in his arms, snoring aloud, napping at his desk. Suddenly, his head shot up, and he was wide awake, staring straight at the large double doors that stood a few hundred feet from his desk. Seconds later, the door was abruptly opened and one of Enma's ogres stepped in.  
"My lord," the ogre said hastily. "We have an intruder, he demands to see you at once. He's forcing his way through to this room, and we can't stop him!"  
"Why not?" Enma replied calmly.  
"Well, he's not actually fighting, but everything we throw at him...bounces off..."  
"Yes, I have sensed it. He's using all his power to create a spirit barrier. He cannot attack, but he will not be harmed. I have forseen his coming."  
"Sir?"  
"Allow him entrance. I know he comes in peace."  
"Yes, my lord." The ogre bowed and quickly exited, closing the door behind him. Enma sighed.  
"Is it this important to you, that you give up all means of attack to ensure that you get here?" Enma spoke to nobody in particular. "I may have underestimated your desires."  
There was nothing but silence for a few minutes, then, the door busted open again, much faster, and much quicker. Standing there now was the figure of a man whom Enma had never dreamed he would see in his presence, of his own free will. But there he was, in beige slacks and a sold black t-shirt. His shoulder length black hair was messy, as if he had rushed here as fast as he could, and he panted. For a moment, nothing, then he stopped panting. Enma spoke first.  
"Riku Yukimora." he said. Riku stared him down with his unemotional red eyes. Riku began to walk to Enma's desk. "Why do you, a villain, now wanted for the murder of thousands, a criminal known by all in the Spirit World, place yourself in my presence?"  
"Enma." Riku replied, copying how Enma had started his remark. "Why does the great overlord of the Spirit world play dumb in the presence of one who could easily destroy him?"  
"Let's just get to the point, Riku."  
"Very well. I come here, as you know, with no intent of harm or violence. I was not sent by Wayne. He does not even know I left."  
"You defy him?" Enma raised a brow.  
"This is much more important than Wayne. The point is, I want to see her, and I want to see her now." Enma sighed.  
"Very well. But I can't guarentee how it will go." Riku just grunted. "Follow me."  
Enma got up and led Riku down the east wing of his castle, looking at the number on each door as he came to it. He stopped at a particular one, and knocked. Botan's voice came from the other side.  
"Yes?"  
"It's Enma. Botan, come here."  
"Okay."  
"I didn't come to see your ferry girl and you know it." Riku said hatefully.  
"I know. This is not her living quarters." Enma shot Riku back a look as Botan walked out.  
"What is it Lord-AH!" She had spotted Riku.  
"Don't be alarmed Botan. Have you had your time with her?"  
"I...I have..." She didn't seem to be to thrilled to be standing within feet of Wayne Williams' number one minion.  
"Then exit. It's time..."  
"Right, bye Lord Enma." She bowed and ran off as fast as she could.  
"Now go in..." Riku didn't even acknowledge Enma. He just walked right into the room and shut the door behind him. He now stood in a woman's room. Across the room from him, standing up now, he face puffy and red, as if she had been crying, was Nyamo Kurosawa.  
She did not seem afraid that the man who had killed her best friend stood there. She just seemed sad. For a while, nobody spoke, then Nyamo broke the silence.  
"Are...you here...to kill me...like you did Yukari?" she gasped between words. Riku was unphased. He kept his face straight as he stood there.  
"No, mother." Riku said coolly. "I am here because of what you are to me."

"So, you two came FROM a rift?" Jimmy asked, after his mother, Judy, had invited them to help themselves to milk and cookies.  
"Yeah." Jenny said. "We came from a place that, according to my scanners, was the city of Tokyo. Before that, we came from a place called Garage Island. And before that, we came from my hometown of Tremorton."  
"And before that, I came alone, from my own hometown, Pallet Town." Ash said.  
"Wait, from Kanto in Japan?" Jimmy asked. Ash nodded, and Jimmy continued with "That can't be."  
"Why not?"  
"Because Pallet Town was destroyed nearly one thousand years ago, according to most history books I've read." Jimmy explained.  
Ash stood there, in open-mouth shock. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally spoke again. "One...thousand years?"  
"Well, yeah. According to the data I've gathered on cultural history, it was destroyed approximately nine hundred and ninety-eight years ago, by a man named...well, that's a rather normal-sounding name." Jimmy said. "His name was..."  
"Wayne." Ash said. "Wayne Williams. Am I right?"  
"Yeah. How'd you know?" Jimmy asked, a look of bewilderment across his face.  
"Wayne's my archenemy--" Ash started to explain, but was cut off by Jenny.  
"OUR archenemy."  
"Right, OUR archenemy. He apparently came from somewhere close to a place called Vermilion City."  
"Wrong." came Enma's all-too-familiar voice, as his face appeared on Ash's wristwatch.  
"Leapin' Leptons!" Jimmy exclaimed, falling back in his chair.  
"Oh yeah, Jimmy, this is my boss."  
"OUR boss." Jenny corrected.  
"Right, right." Ash said. "Anyway, this is Enma. Enma, what'd ya want?"  
"I'm pretty sure you saw the wings on Wayne's back."  
"Yeah, what's that about?"  
"I'm afraid things are becoming more and more hopeless, Ash. I thought the 'fallen angels' had ceased to exist." Enma said, a grim look on his face.  
"W...wait...did you say 'fallen angels'!" Ash said, his eyebrow cocked.  
"Well, it's apparently what their language translates their real name to. Wayne really ISN'T human, Ash. He's an Eltherian."  
"Eltheri-what?"  
"Eltherian. A race of winged humanoids. They possess insane amounts of spirit awareness, as well as enough latent Spirit Energy to destroy an entire planet. I was sure they all died during their civil war."  
"Civil war?"  
"Oh, how long has it been now...Botan?" Enma called.  
"It's been about ten years, sire." Botan hollered from off-screen.  
"About ten years ago, tensions were mounting between the forces of El'her and the newly seceded group of Eltherians who inhabited El'her's sister planet: Elderea." Enma explained, and a flashback occured, in which thousands of people stood on a war-ravaged plain, cutting each other down.  
"The casualties were CATASTROPHIC. Within ten days, both armies had lost one-tenth of their men. It had gotten so bad that people with absolutely no combat experience were being forced into both armies. No one quite remembered who started the war, but we have a feeling that the Lord of Elderea, Helios, had something to do with it. Either way, both armies fought their hardest. The war,  
however, turned, when the people who were born on Elderea joined in the fighting. With their armies completely outnumbered,  
the Eltherian army was quickly overpowered. Forced to surrender, Queen Maria and King Keld hoped for a treaty, even one with unfavorable terms, but the leader of the seceded Eltherians, Cassion Aladar, had different ideas. Raiding the palace, he personally took the heads of the two rulers. However, fate, as YOU would say, bitch-slapped him. Helios had no intention of taking in the seceded Eltherians, and ordered for the execution of every survivng member of their clan. Not even an infant was spared. And perhaps it was best that way..." The panning flashback of the Eltherians dying out ended, and Botan stepped up beside Enma, a rather serious look on her face. "Enma, sir. Actually, I had hid something from you. Forgive me. There were two children who escaped from that bloodbath alive. I don't know their identities, but...I'm guessing we can assume Wayne is one of those two children."  
"So then, who's the other?" Enma asked, causing Botan to look away. "Botan. Answer me." Enma said, his face stern.  
"The two children that escaped were siblings. So, Wayne's older sister was the only other survivor"  
Ash then replied. "His SISTER! Wayne's got a sister!"  
"Yes." Botan said, still not looking in the direction of Ash or Enma.  
"So, things continue to look worse and worse for us..." Enma said.

Enma sat at his desk, talking to Ash and Jenny on his large monitor. Botan had now scurried off, as had Ratty, for reasons unknown, leaving Enma there by his lonesome.  
"Well," The exasperated Spirit World Lord said. "Things just keep piling up, don't they Ash?"  
"Yeah." Ash replied. "One thing after another."  
"Well, either way, this is something I can deal with. Ash, I want you and Jenny to try and learn more from this Jimmy fellow here. I'm out. I still have another matter to attend to here."  
"Right, later boss."  
Enma turned off the monitor and sent it away. He turned and called for Ratty, whom immediately came skampering in.  
"Ratty at yer service, Lord Enma." Ratty saluted with his paw.  
"Retrieve Ayumu Kasuga for me, Ratty. Botan is clearly not capable at this time of doing much."  
"Aye, sir." Ratty scampered off. "Dayumn..."  
Enma sat by himself in silence as Ratty was getting Osaka. Just like the last time he had time to himself, he began to talk to himself.  
"So, there is another? Another Williams?" he sighed. "We can barely take one. What will happen if the other shows herself?" He paused. "Speaking of another, what is taking you so long, Riku? I didn't forsee this." The sound of footsteps silenced Enma, as Ratty, followed closely by Ayumu Kasuga, known as Osaka, followed behind him. Her long black hair was brushed back, and she was wearing nothing but a simple, pink, one piece dress. Very casual.  
"Ratty, you're dismissed." Enma released Ratty with a wave of his hand. Ratty just scurried off. "And as for you, Miss. Kasuga..."  
"You can call me Osaka, Lord Enma." Osaka said in her normal tone of voice. She had apparently gotten some of her life back, or at least that's how it appeared to him.  
"Maybe I can," Enma said solemnly. "But I personally choose not to."  
"Mmmm'kay."  
"Now, anyway, you're probably wondering why I've asked you here."  
"Yes sir." Osaka said, sounding like she was actually paying attention. Apparently, the destruction of her homeworld had changed a lot about her.  
Enma went on the explain in detail many things to young Kasuga. What Spirit Power was. How it could be used, the fact that what Wayne and Riku had used was Spirit Power, and lastly, that she herself seemed to have a great amount of raw Spirit Energy within her. By the time Enma was done, Osaka had more than a few questions.  
"So, what yer sayin'..." Osaka said "...is that I can do the same sort of things that those two evil men could do?"  
"Well, not immediately." Enma replied. "But you have the energy within you, and the potential to have such powers, though I do hope you don't intend to do with your powers as they do."  
"Not at all. This is just so amazin' to me..."  
"You'll have plenty of time learn everything about it, Miss. Kasuga." Enma paused. "That being said, you are going to be trained to use the Spirit Energy you have. Letting Spirit Energy sit raw in one's self is not generally a good idea. Now, I have just the person to train you." He then pulled out a microphone, and called out to a certain blue-haired deity. "Botan, I want you to go to Pallet Town and pick up Janine."  
"Understood, sire." the ferry girl replied.

Back in Pallet Town, it was a lazy day. Misty was arranging the clothes in Ash's closet, when the door opened, revealing another girl, about five feet and eight inches in height, and she had an average build. She picked up a brush on the dresser and used it to comb back her long brown hair. Her emerald-green eyes stared on at Misty as she sorted through the outfits.  
"Uh, maybe Ash should do that. You're not his servant, Misty." said the girl, a smile on her face.  
"Oh! Janine!" Misty called, evidently not noticing Janine's presence in the room until the latter spoke. "I was bored. I was just finding ways to pass the time."  
"Hon..." Janine said, with slight chuckle. "If I were THAT bored, I'd have put a bullet in my head by this time."  
"And I imagine you've found so much to do in this town?" Misty asked, rolling her eyes playfully.  
"So, where is Ash? I swear, I haven't seen him in days." Janine asked.  
"I think he's working at that Halloween store."  
"There are no Halloween stores here."  
"Exactly." Misty said, then a sly smirk appeared on her face. "So tell me, what mission is he doing for Enma now?"  
Janine's eyes widened comically, and she quickly said "I have no idea what you're talking about."  
"Oh, come off it, Janine. I've known ever since he began his career that he's a Spirit Detective"  
Janine looked away somberly for a minute, then said "How the HELL did you figure it out!"  
"It all started coming together when I snuck up to the hospital rooftop during Ash's most recent battle with Wayne."  
"Oh." Janine said, clamming up at the mention of Wayne.  
"I know you two were partners. But...I trust you now. You saved Ash's life."  
"And he saved mine. He got me away from Team Rocket."  
Before their conversation could proceed any further, Janine's wrist communicator started beeping. "Enma?" Misty asked, knowing the answer already.  
"Enma." Janine replied. She then turned on the little screen. "Yes sir, what is it?"  
"Janine, I need you here in Spirit World. Botan's on her way?"  
"Yes sir. Where should I wait?"  
"Outside of Ash's hou--"  
"Where IS Ash!" came Misty's voice, shocking Enma.  
"Wh...what! SHE'S not supposed to know about me! Quick! Make up a lie!" Enma said frantically. A large sweat drop formed on the back on Janine's head.  
Misty walked over in front of the tiny screen. "I've known about you for months. Now, answer my question! Where's Ash!"  
Enma sighed, then responded with "He's in a place called Retroville. It's in a country that doesn't exist yet, called North America."  
"What do you mean by 'it doesn't exist'?"  
"...Ash is in a country called North America, as I said. However, he's in a different time period. Exactly nine hundred and ninety-eight years ahead of us, to be exact..."  
Misty's eyes widened, and she stammered out "N...n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY-EIGHT YEARS!"  
"Yes."

"Let me get this straight, then." Jimmy said. "You're trying to find something called the Spirit Stone?"  
"Yeah." Ash said. Jenny then added "Meanwhile, we're trying to fight off this guy named Wayne."  
"The Wayne who destroyed Pallet Town?"  
"Yeah. I fought him three times already, but I guess he was holding back those first two times just to make a fool outta me..."  
"How strong are we talking about?" Jimmy said, a perplexed look on his face.  
"Strong enough to destroy a world." Ash said, looking away.  
"And apparently, silent enough to sneak in without being noticed." came a voice that was all-too-familiar to Ash. Horrified, he and Jenny turned their heads to the doorway, along with a confused Jimmy. There, with the door opened behind him, stood Wayne.

Riku and Nyamo stood there, eyes locked on one another. Nyamo didn't know what to think. Somehow, she knew. She wanted to be happy, because she had felt like the hole in her was ready to be filled by what was standing in front of her. She had felt like something was missing for a long time, but she did not know what. Now, she knew this was it. But "it" was a mass murderer, who destroyed her home world, and her best friend. For that, she wanted to be sad. Inside of Nyamo, was a proverbial war of the worlds. She had no idea what to do.  
"You don't remember," Riku said, breaking the silence. "But roughly ninteen years ago, at age 13, you gave birth to a baby boy. Small in size, but he was your own." Nyamo seemed taken back.  
"Thirteen? I never had intercourse at that age!" She blushed. Riku sighed, taking a step in her direction.  
"Your memory was blocked. I know good and well you remember nothing before you were that age. Well, I can fix that." He walked to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She tried to jerk free, but she held steady. There was a small flash in Nyamo's eyes. A few seconds later, she spoke.  
"T...that man..."  
"You do remember." Riku smiled and removed his hand.  
"That man..." She continued.  
"That man was a soldier in the Eltherian Civil War, though he was merely Elderian. One day, after a battle, when he and the rest of the Crusaders had come back to the village, a little teenage girl, the daughter of a produce vendor, caught his eye. The man went on to kidnap and rape the young girl. When her parents protested, the royalty didn't do jack shit about it, because the man, Levios Jno Yukimora, was one of their best soldiers, and best friends. The man, Levios Yukimora, is my biological father. The girl he raped, my biological mother, is you, Minamo Kurosawa. I assume you remember it all now."  
"I...I do..." Nyamo was fighting back tears. Apparently, something like this wasn't an easy thing to remember.  
"But regardless, I am still your son. My father died in that civil war, but you, you were shifted to a diferent dimension by Botan, that ferry girl. I know for a fact, overall time in the dimension where you ended up is somewhat faster. You aged to the age of thirty-two, whereas if you lived in the dimension we came from, you would be twenty-two. But now that the Azu deminsion is gone, the aging will be with this dimension." When Nyamo said nothing, Riku went on.  
"The point is, I have been searching all my life for you. I found you. Mother."  
"Stop." Nyamo said. "If it were up to me, you wouldn't be alive. Do you think I enjoyed what happened at all? NO! Do you think I enjoyed having to leave my home world, watching them all be brutally slaughtered? NO! How do you think I feel now, remembering all of this, and knowing what you do?" Riku stood there, speechless, dumbfounded. Nyamo continued. "You are not my son, you are a mass murderer, a cold-hearted bastard. I want you out NOW!"  
"But..."  
"OUT!" She started to cry, and Riku could do nothing but sigh, turn around, and exit the room, shutting the door behind him. He stood there for a moment, not sure what to think. He looked into his open palms, and a tear, from his own face, dropped into his right hand. Riku became infuriated, and without thinking, hit the wall opposite the door, immediatly causing the stone to crumble.  
"Shit." He mumbled before turning and walking down the hall. When he came out, Enma still sat at his desk, along with one of the girls from the dimension he and Wayne had destroyed. She seemed shocked to see him, and tried to sputter to Enma, who rose his hand.  
"Calm down, Ayumu. He is visiting someone." Enma said calmly. Riku just made a noise under his breath. Enma turned his head to face Riku. "She didn't exactly welcome you with open arms?" Riku did nothing. "You can't blame her Riku, after the things you've done."  
"Shut the fuck up, Enma." Riku said hatefully. He tried to hide it, but he sniffled out loud. He started to walk back to the large double doors, then stopped. He was silent for only a moment.  
"Lord Enma?" Riku said as if he was someone who looked up to Enma as a Lord and not an enemy.  
"Yes Riku?"  
"Why do I do the things that I do?"  
"I don't know, Riku." Enma replied. "You need to figure that out for yourself. Then figure out if what you've done is right."  
"Hmmm." Riku started to walk on again, but this time Enma stopped him.  
"Remember this." He said, causing Riku to halt in his tracks. "The countless descisions you make will forever affect those you care about." Riku was silent again. "An old friend told me that. She was a great spiritual person, and I will meet her daughter soon. Just remember Riku. You've found somebody you care about. Think about that."  
Riku stood there for a moment, and he trembled slightly before he walked on again, and opened the door. As he closed the door, he said, under his breath, "Thank you, Enma." But only he heard it. The doors to the Spirit World Castle closed behind him, and Riku walked out, a man with too much on his mind.

Author's note:Things are coming along nicely, plot-wise. Dustin here. Stay tuned for Episode 8, where...well, I'm not saying anything about what's going to happen. Just...stay tuned!


	8. Chapter 8

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 8 

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon and Caleb McGlone, with help from Rob Volzke. 

Disclaimer. First episode. Read there. Episode 8. Uhhh...

Wayne smirked at the three people who stood up after seeing him inside of the youngest person(Jimmy)'s house.  
"So, Ash. Are you ready for another humiliating defeat?"  
"You son of a b--" Ash started, but was cut off as Jenny spoke up.  
"This time, you're going down! Ash, let's take him together!" she said, a smirk forming on her metallic face.  
"Even together, the two of you have no chance. Actually, I came to play a bit of a game with you."  
"What!"  
"You heard me. I'm giving you and your metallic friend here a chance to save this dimension from annihilation."  
"What are you trying to pull?" Ash asked, his eyes narrowing.  
"What, you don't trust me?" Wayne asked, pretending to be hurt.  
"I think you know the answer to that." Ash said, a scowl on his face.  
"Okay then, but realize that, if you DON'T play my little game, I'lldestroy this place anyway."  
Ash looked away for a second, then looked back at Wayne. "What game?"  
Wayne smirked, then pulled something out of his coat pocket. Ash and Jenny went into defensive stances.  
"They're nothing TOO deadly." Wayne said, then opened his hand, revealing a pack of cigarettes. "Just my cigarettes."  
"Will you just tell us what the game is, THEN smoke?" Ash asked, frustrated.  
"This IS the game." Wayne said, a sly smirk across his face.  
"Huh?" Ash was confused.  
"You have to put out my cigarette. If you fail to do so before it burns down to the filter, you lose, and so does this backwater town."  
"And if I win?" Ash said, obviously not trusting Wayne.  
"Then I leave this place alone, and move on to the next."  
"...Deal. Where should we do this?"  
"Meet me in the park in about an hour." And then, Wayne walked out the door, closing it behind him.

The double doors to Enma's Castle opened, and before him stood his ferry girl Botan, and at her side, Janine. Enma smiled, and Osaka bowed politely, though neither of them seemed to take notice at her. Janine and Botan walked straight up to Enma.  
"Very good, Botan." Enma said, waving his hand. "Now head to the Great Library and help Ratty with his filing before he starts chewing on the books again."  
"Yes sir." Botan bowed and hustled off, leaving Osaka, Janine, and Enma alone.  
"It's been a while since I've seen you in person." Enma said.  
"Get to the point Enma, what do you need?" Janine was very direct.  
"Direct, as always, I see. Very well." Enma cocked his head and looked at Osaka. "It's this girl you are here for." Janine raised an eybrow.  
"What about her?" Enma raised a brow of his own.  
"You cannot feel it? Yes, I see. Ayumu?"  
"Yes sir?" Osaka spoke.  
"Relax."  
"Okay." OSaka closed her eyes and took a deep breath. A few seconds later, Janine had look of surprise on her face, which quickly calmed down.  
"Impressive Spirit Power."  
"Yes," Enma said proudly. "However, it is raw. Unused."  
"And you want me to train her, don't you?" Janine finished up for him.  
"Precisely. I feel she has great potential. I suppose you accept?" Janine sighed.  
"I suppose, I have nothing better to do." She looked to Osaka. "But you realize this won't be easy, and it won't be fun. It will be a lot of hard work. Do you still want to harness your energy?"  
"Yes'm."  
"Good, now you are...?"  
"Ayumu Kasuga, but'cha can call me--"  
"Very well. Come with me, Ayumu. And good day to you, Enma." Janine bowed and headed for the door. Osaka bowed and quickly followed suit. Enma watched as they left, as the doors closed.  
"If Janine can train her right," He said aloud. "then she has a lot of potential. It will be interesting to see what she can do."

Despite Wayne calling Retroville a "backwater town", it was actually fairly large. Ash and Jenny noticed this as they raced through the streets, trying to find the park. Eventually, they spotted the park, and standing at the gateway leading into the park was none other than their mortal enemy himself, a cigarette already in his mouth. He was toying with his lighter as he noticed that the two would-be heroes arriving. He turned his head to them and said, "There you are. You're ten minutes late."  
"We couldn't find the place." Ash explained, breathlessly.  
"I'll let it slide just this once. Ready to begin?" he asked.  
"As ready as I'll ever be. Jenny?"  
"Yeah. I'm ready. Let's get that cigarette!"  
"Good. Let's begin." Wayne said, smirking as he lit his cigarette, then took a drag. Not even a second later, though, Ash was on the ground, clutching his stomach in extreme pain. Jenny looked shocked, and said, "What the hell!"  
"I forgot to mention...I won't be running. I'll be fighting the two of you off!"  
"Y...you cheap...bastard..." Ash moaned, then surprised Wayne with a sweep, attempting to knock him over. As he went over, though, Wayne landed on his hands and flipped back to his feet instantly. He simply threw another punch Ash's way, which sent him sprawling over the ground a few feet behind him. Jenny sent a kick in Wayne's direction, but the latter simply yawned and raised an elbow to block it., doing so successfully.  
"How did that not hurt you!" Jenny asked in disbelief.  
"Oh, didn't Enma tell you? I'm an Eltherian. Sissy kicks like that won't do jack shit to me. Try something just a BIT harder."  
"You want harder, huh!" Jenny asked, with a smirk, then said, "I'll give you harder!" She then held up her fist, which doubled in size, as her metallic knuckles became spikes, and she punched Wayne with all of her robotic might, actually causing him to fly back into the closest tree in the park. When Wayne got up, though, the cigarette was still burning, as he took another drag from it. It had now burnt one-fourth of the way to the filter. Jenny knew it was only a matter of minutes until the cigarette burned away completely.  
"So, you pack a little more of a punch than Ash does. Maybe you'll succeed where he failed."  
"Who failed, again?" came Ash's voice as he struggled to his feet, then said, "Last I recall...I wasn't beaten yet." He smirked, wiping off the blood that trickled from his mouth. "You just don't get it, do you Ash? You couldn't even trip me. You're a lousy Spirit Detective. You're going to fail everybody you befriend." Wayne said.  
"Shut up!"  
"It's no wonder that I am evidently going to end up destroying Pallet Town."  
"I'll never let that happen!"  
"Do you intend to beat me?"  
"No. I intend to KILL you." Ash scowled, then held up his right index finger, and began to charge a Spirit Gun.  
"Ash, Ash, Ash..." Wayne said, smirking as usual, then added, "You should know by now that my Devil Gun trumps your Spirit Gun!"  
"Maybe so, but I'm not aiming at you." Ash said, with a smirk.  
"HUH!" Wayne shouted out, as Ash shouted, "SPIRIT GUN!"  
The gun traveled straight and true. Wayne, as Ash had hoped, sidestepped his blow, but in doing so, had left Ash's true target wide open. The cigarette was hit, knocking all but a small bit of the tobacco, and the entire filter, off.  
"Game. Set. Match." Ash said, as Wayne looked on in wide-eyed shock.  
"Awesome, Ash! You did it!" Jenny exclaimed happily.  
"I...I don't...believe it...you did it..." Wayne said, his eyes still wide.  
"So, time for you to pack up and get the hell outta Retroville!" Ash said. Wayne then smirked, and said, "Very well. I must admit,  
even I was amazed. Maybe fighting you won't be so boring after all. I'll depart, as promised. I'll be waiting for you in a place called Dimmsdale. Don't keep me waiting again."  
He then opened a rift, using his bracelet, and jumped inside. The rift quickly shut behind him. Ash and Jenny looked at each other for a second, then walked off toward Jimmy's house.

Osaka and Janine now stood, facing each other, in a small grassy area. Directly behind Janine, Osaka could see the city known as Pallet Town, where this had all supposedly started. Osaka felt a sort of distaste for the town, but quickly reminded herself that remorse and scorn would not change a thing. She looked back to Janine.  
"Now then," Janine said. "The first part is very simple. You have Spirit Energy. I have Spirit Energy. Did you know that?"  
"I assumed so, afta all, Enma said so." Osaka replied. Janine smirked.  
"Ah, but did you KNOW, darling? Could you feel it?"  
"No."  
"Then that is where we begin. Now, listen to me very closely, Ayumu. I want you to close your eyes. Close your eyes and let go. Now think of something. Something that is very important to you. Focus on it, Osaka. Focus hard on it. If you do this right, you will know..."  
Osaka nodded and shut her eyes, while Janine simply stood and watched. Minutes passed, nothing. Then, Osaka jerked her eyes open and took a step back. Janine smiled.  
"Did you feel it, hun?" Osaka nodded.  
"I sensed a lot in you...and now...I feel differ'nt too." She looked around. "And everything, it's different." She placed her hands on her head.  
"It's fine." Janine said. "That's what I wanted. You have become spiritually aware, the first step to understanding your powers. You can now feel the powers of everyone around you. If somebody with Spiritual Energy is anywhere near, you will be able to sense it. This is a very key point." Osaka removed her hands and nodded. "Now, come here dear, we have to perfect this before we can move on."

Ash and Jenny had almost made it back to Jimmy's house. Ash had his hand on the door, when an all too familiar voice spoke.  
"Hold it." said the voice, and Ash, looking pissed, turned around to find himself face to face, or rather, face to chest, with Riku. Ash jumped back, but the door was in his way.  
"What do you want?" Jenny said. She looked like she was ready to go all out. "We've already saved this dimension from Wayne, so get out of here." Riku chuckled, then his face went emotionless.  
"Wayne may not be my boss before long. I have thinking to do." Riku looked off to the left, staring off into space. Ash wasn't liking this.  
"Good for you, but what does this have to do with us?" Riku looked back to Ash.  
"I am simply here to tell you this." He paused. "The war will not end with Wayne." Ash looked puzzled.  
"What do you--"  
"You'll figure it out." Riku stepped off to the side, and suddenly, with all his power, opened up a rift. "It may be yet a while before anyone sees me, but I know you will all sooner or later wind up where I am going now. Farewell Ash, and remember, it will not end with Wayne." Riku nodded at Ash, then jumped into the rift, closing it behind him. Ash and Jenny just stood there, dumbfounded that the lackey of their arch-nemesis had just tried to help them.

Author's note:Dustin here again. This episode came along extremely fast, I must say. It's also the shortest one of the eight so far.  
What's going to happen upon Ash and Jenny arriving in Dimmsdale? And what exactly did Riku mean? To find out, stay tuned.


	9. Chapter 9

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 9 

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon and PAEC, with help from Rob Volzke. 

Disclaimer. First episode. Read there. Episode 9. Not much to say, I just hope you've enjoyed it enough to read this far ahead. :D

Osaka and Janine had been training for two days straight. Neither had had any rest, and Janine was showing no signs of slowing down. Osaka, however was tired. Despite every sign she showed, Janine did not let up on her.  
"Okay." Janine said, as Osaka stood before her half awake. "I think you've got spirit awareness down. You've proven yourself to me there, but this is only the beginning." When all Osaka did was yawn, Janine went on. "I can tell you are tired, and though I could keep you out here for weeks and keep going, you would suffer."  
"So..." Osaka started, but had to wait for a yawn to surpass to continue. "Does that mean I get a break?" Osaka tried to keep her eyes open.  
"Hell no, darling." Janine said cooly. "You still have one last thing to do." Osaka just waited, apparently not wanting to waste any energy talking. "You must take your Spirit Energy, from deep inside of you, and use it. In some way, I want you to use your Spirit Energy, to attack me. Try to hurt me, Ayumu. Once you have done that, you will get 8 hours of sleep, and then we will mold the attack, and make it your own."  
"So...I'm inventing..." Osaka yawned. "A Spirit Attack?"  
"Correct." Janine confirmed. "Now..." She took a defensive stance. "Let's see what you've got!"  
Osaka widened her stance, and tried her best to stay awake, but it was hard. She closed her eyes, and for a moment, nothing, as if she was deciding what to do. Five minutes passed, and still, nothing happened, but Janine knew she was not asleep. Rather, she knew she was preparing. Suddenly, she opened her eyes, and in her hand, appeared a red sphere of glowing light. Osaka reared back, and, as if she had a baseball in her hand, lugged the energy at Janine as hard as she could. The energy ball flew at Janine at a high speed, but with just a flick of her wrist, the ball was in the ground, and a few seconds later, all that was left was a hole at Janine's feet. Osaka could take no more, and promptly collapsed.  
Janine walked over to Osaka's sleeping body, and picked her up, whispering to her.  
"Good job, girl. You show promise, just like Enma said. Now come on, let's get you back to Ash's house..."  
Janine tossed Osaka onto her shoulders, and walked off in the direction of Pallet Town.

Meanwhile, in a different dimension, as well as a different timeline...Ash and Jenny were about to open the door to Jimmy's house,  
when it opened on its own, revealing the aforementioned Jimmy.  
"Oh! Ash, Jenny, how'd it go?"  
"Ash did it." Jenny said.  
"Yeah...but I couldn't help but feel as though he LET me win." Ash looked down as he said this.  
"Hey." Jimmy said, "At least you won. We wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for you."  
"Thanks." Ash said, smiling.  
"I want you to have this." Jimmy said, handing Ash his Rift Locator.  
"Jimmy...I can't..." he started.  
"Ash, stopping Wayne is your first priority, not letting me study these rifts. I'd like to think I helped, even if by just a tiny margin.  
Besides, I can always make another. So, go on. Take it."  
"...Thanks, Jimmy. This means a lot, seriously." Ash said.  
"Did Wayne say his next stop was Dimmsdale?" Jimmy asked.  
"Yeah. Why do you ask?" Ash replied.  
"If you see Timmy Turner while you're there, tell him I said hi." Jimmy said.  
"Uh...okay, sure." Ash said.  
"I SHOULD be able to get you to Dimmsdale from my lab." Jimmy said.  
"Alright then."  
"Follow me"  
Jimmy walked over to the shed he originally came out of when Ash and Jenny had met him. He then plucked a hair from his head and held it in front of a tiny electronic device. The door opened, and the three walked in, descending further under the earth's crust until reaching a large laboratory. Jimmy walked over to a computer and started typing something in. Jenny looked around, absolutely amazed at all the technology that surrounded the three.  
"This lab is AMAZING..." Jenny said, in absolute wonderment.  
"Oh, this? Nah. You should see my dog. He's really something...and that reminds me. Jenny, can you come over here for a second?"  
"Huh? Oh, yeah." Jenny walked over to the computer, and Jimmy started speaking to her. Ash, however, couldn't make out what they were saying, but then, Jimmy stuck a plug into Jenny's "navel", and started typing furiously. After a few minutes, he stopped typing, then after a few more minutes, he removed the plug. Jenny thanked him, then walked back over to Ash.  
"What was that about?" Ash asked.  
"Oh...nothing." Jenny said, a sly smile on her face.  
"Anyway, I'm ready to attempt opening a portal between Retroville and Dimmsdale." Jimmy then began typing again, and a weird machine over on the right began to glow, as a purple vortex formed there. "What the hell?" Ash asked, a bit surprised by the mysterious, swirling vortex.  
"Hop in. This will take you to Dimmsdale."  
Ash and Jenny looked at Jimmy, then the vortex, and then each other, and nodded, jumping in. However, unbeknownst to them,  
a certain big-headed boy genius jumped in behind them.

Enma sat at his desk, watching an old tape the Spirit World had made. On it, two men stood, dueling. Or at least, one of them looked like a man. The humanoid man had purple hair, trailing down to his feet, and was garbed in a Roman-style toga. The other man had short black hair, and was garbed in a trenchcoat, with black pants. As Enma watched the video, he sighed.  
"If you were still among us, this case would already be closed." he said, then added, "However, I do have faith in Ash. I know he'll pull a rabbit out of his hat and save us all."

It was a fairly cloudy evening in the city of Mushiyori City, Japan, a fine summer evening. Near the city were rocky, frozen hills, hills where people usually did not tread, but on this day, a strange presence loomed over these hills.  
Suddenly, a tear in the air opened on the top of one of the icy hillsides. A man stepped out, and after he tossed his black hair back, it could be easily seen that it was Riku. He took a few steps forward and inhaled, as the rift closed behind him. Then, a voice spoke from behind him, a normal teenage accent.  
"Here when you said you'd be," the voice said. "I've only just arrived myself." Riku looked back, and smiled at what he saw. "I am never late, nor am I early, my friend." Riku said. "I arrive precisley when I mean to." The voice from behind him chuckled.  
"That you are, now, what is it you want to see me for?"  
"It's a long story, let's go somewhere less open." Riku said, as he walked into the forest, with this unknown man leading the way.

Another rift, another fall. This time, however, they were inside of a building. They landed in what appeared to be a gymnasium. A creepy-looking man with black hair and glasses, hunched over sinisterly, approached them and said, "Wait a minute. Teenagers shouldn't be here! I can't torture you! You're big! And you appeared through a swirling purple vortex!"  
The man then turned around, and semi-silently monologued, "There's only one way these teenagers appeared out of nowhere. That boy with the flaming jacket and the metal girl must have..." he trailed off, then started spazzing, contorting into impossible positions as he shouted, "FAIRY GODPARENTS!"  
"Uh, hello?" Ash asked, a sweatdrop forming on the back of his head.  
"We can hear you." Jenny said, her eyebrow arched.  
"Then I don't have to repeat myself!" the man said, his eyes widening as he had a "just-shy-of-batshit-insane" smile on his face.  
"Crocker!" came a voice from behind Ash and Jenny, causing the two partners to turn their heads and notice Jimmy.  
"Jimmy!" they both exclaimed.  
"Turner!" the man known as Crocker said.  
"Turner?" Ash and Jenny asked, getting confused.  
"Jimmy." Jimmy corrected.  
"Jimmy?" Crocker asked.  
"Jimmy." Ash and Jenny said.  
"Who's with the what, now?" came a voice none of them, aside from Jimmy, had heard before. It belonged to...  
"A talking green cat with a crown on its head!" all but Jimmy and the cat exclaimed.  
"FAIRIES!" Crocker shouted, before two men dressed entirely in white busted down the door and injected a needle into his buttocks. Crocker soon was in "La La Land", and the two men straight-jacketed him, dragging him out of the gymnasium.  
"That went from 'weird' to 'What would happen if I took up smoking marijuana?'." Ash said, the sweatdrop on the back of his head growing in size.  
"Totally." Jenny said, her eyebrow arched again.  
"Anyway..." Ash said, turning around, "What are YOU doing here!"  
"Sorry. I know I should have stayed in Retroville...but I have some business here." Jimmy explained.  
"Oh yeah?" Jenny asked, interested in what Jimmy could possibly have to do here.  
"Yes. That cat's one of the reasons I'm here."  
The cat then transformed into a short, green-haired man with a crown on his head. That wasn't what shocked Ash and Jenny, though.  
"Uhhh...that thing...it has WINGS." Ash said, pointing to him.  
"Yep." Jenny said, staring at him.  
"...Okay, who slipped me mind-altering drugs when I wasn't looking?" Ash said, his eyes narrowed down to slits.

Author's note:Dustin here once again. Hope you enjoy this episode. See what happens next episode, when...again, I am not spoiling it. All I can say is...stay tuned.


	10. Chapter 10

Pokewing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 10 

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon and Caleb McGlone, with help from Rob Volzke. 

Disclaimer. First episode. Read there. Episode 10. Not much to say, I just hope you've enjoyed it enough to read this far ahead. :D

Janine walked through the front door of the Ketchum household with Osaka over her shoulders. The only people home were Misty and Delia, who were sitting in the Living Room, chatting. Both looked when they saw Janine carrying the girl. Only Misty understood.  
"Oh, is that Ayumu Kasuga?" Misty asked, looking at the sleeping girl on Janine's shoulders.  
"Yeah, this is her." Janine replied. Delia was confused.  
"Uhmm...am I missing something here?" she asked.  
"Yeah," Janine looked in her direction. "This girl has Spirit Powers, and Enma assigned me to train her. She needs rest."  
"Oh, you can put her in Ash's bed." Misty pointed up the stairs. Janine made a playfully disgusted face.  
"It might be dirty, y'know."  
"I washed the sheets." Misty and Delia giggled, both of them seeming to get the joke. Janine nodded and carried Osaka upstairs. She snored lightly, and the look on her face could trick one into thinking she was the most innocent human being alive, and very well she could be at times. She yawned, and for a second, Janine stopped, thinking she may have awoken the girl. But Osaka continued to snore rythmatically, and Janine walked all the way up the stairs, and laid Osaka in Ash's bed.  
Janine looked down at this innocent looking girl, and unintentionally smiled. Something about this girl gave off a positive aura, and Janine had a gut feeling, that Enma may have found the needle in the haystack, a diamond in the rough so to speak. But Janine also knew that the future was always clouded, and impossible to see. That was why this girl was now her responsibility.  
She patter Osaka lightly on the head, and whispered, "Rest easy, kiddo." She smiled and stood up, walking out of the room, and lightly shutting the door behind her. Then, quietly, she tiptoed down to her own room, where she stepped in, and promptly flipped on her wrist communicator, After pushing a few buttons, the staticy image of Ash popped up on her communicator.  
"Ash!" She said happily.  
"Hey...nine...What's up?" Ash replied.  
"Beg pardon?" She replied. Ash pushed a few button on his own communicator and his image was on screen.  
"Sorry about that. I said 'What's up'?"  
"Oh, nothing, I was just calling to check up on you. You okay?"  
"Well, physically, yes, but I've seen some pretty weird shit as...late" Ash was starting to get cut off again. Janine laughed, not noticing.  
"Well, as long as you're..." The image of Ash was gone. Janine looked pissed. "Damn thing." She tried to use the buttons to turn it back on, but no dice. "Weird...guess I'll have to try back later." Janine turned her wrist communicator off and began to walk back downstairs.

"Hey, Janine, are ya still there?" Ash asked, even though her image had completely vanished from the tiny screen. "Hello? Janine?  
...Damn!"  
"Who were you talking to, Ash?" Jenny asked.  
"My partner from my own dimension. Janine." Ash replied, looking as though he was lost in thought.  
Finally, the green-haired midget man took notice of Jimmy. "FUDGE HEAD!" he shouted, then threw his arms around the boy genius.  
"Good to see you too, Cosmo." he said. He turned to Ash and Jenny and continued, "Ash, Jenny, meet Cosmo. He's a hologram made by a guy I know in this town"  
"So..." Ash said slowly, "I'm NOT on experimental drugs?"  
"Not that I know of." Jimmy said.  
"So, Fudge Head, who're these tw--" Cosmo stopped when he saw the flame pattern on Ash's jacket, then screamed, "AAH! FIRE!",  
and magically produced a bucket of water, which then magically turned over and spilled on Ash, whose eyes narrowed in frustration.  
Jimmy then asked, "Uhhh, Cosmo? Where's Timmy?"  
"He's in class right now." Cosmo smiled, then added, "Or was it detention?" He then looked back at Ash, and saw the flames on his jacket. "AAH! FIRE!" he screamed again, and created another bucket of water. Ash was ready, this time, as he jumped out of the way, pissed at Cosmo.  
"It's not fire, you idiot, it's just a pattern!" Ash yelled.  
"Oh." Cosmo blinked. Everyone was silent. "Are you sure those aren't real flames?"  
"I'm sure." Ash said. Jimmy decided to try and steer the conversation away from this.  
"Cosmo, why aren't you in class--" Cosmo cut him off, adding, "Or detention."  
"Right. Or detention. The point is, why aren't you with Timmy now?"  
"Well, we were in the hall, and I fell asleep in his locker, and then I was on a beach, and there was Wanda, she'd lost weight, she was happy, she wasn't yelling at me..." Cosmo gazed off and got all starry eyed, and he also started to drool. Jimmy just shook his head.  
"Look, tell him, when you see him, that someone really dangerous is in Dimmsdale, and he should just run home, lock his doors,  
and get into the fetal position!"  
"10-4, Fudge Head! I can help him with that! Watch!" Cosmo said, curling up into a fetal position and sucking his thumb for good measure. Ash just groaned, wondering what Wayne could possibly want with this place.

Crocker sat, still straight-jacketed, inside a padded cell, when he suddenly heard screams of terror, and agony.  
"Screams of terror! And I'M not causing them!" Crocker asked himself, a scowl on his face. He spazzed once again, shouting "THERE'S NO JUSTICE IN THE WORLD!"  
"Yes there is, Denzel Crocker." came a voice from outside. The door opened, revealing Wayne.  
"What?" Crocker asked.  
"I said, there IS justice in the world. MY justice. The justice that smites the undeserving with its brilliant light. You can join me, and help me deliver this justice."  
"What's in it for me?" Crocker asked, suspicious of this man.  
"You mean, aside from still being alive when I'm through delivering justice?" Wayne asked, then said, "Alright. What do you want more than anything in the entire world?"  
"That's easy." Crocker smirked. "To capture Timmy Turner's..." he trailed off for a second, then his arms burst out of the straight jacket as he spazzed, shouting, "FAIRY GODPARENTS!"  
"If I get them for you, will you do something for me?" Wayne asked.  
"What?" Crocker replied, curious as to what Wayne wanted from him.  
Wayne simply smirked in reply.

Timmy Turner sat at his desk, waiting for the bell to ring so he could get out of horrible, horrible detention...and probably go home to find horrible, horrible Vicky the babysitter there waiting for him. The buck-toothed, pink-hatted, brown-haired, and blue-eyed boy cringed at any thoughts of Vicky that entered his mind.  
"Psst." he whispered, apparently to a drawing of a pink balloon with eyes that matched its color, and a smiley-face. "Wanda, what time is it?"  
"About 5 minutes since the last time you asked, sport." came the reply of the balloon.  
"Where's Cosmo?"  
"Don't you remember?"  
"Uh...no."  
"He fell asleep in your locker. You said we should just leave him."  
"Oh yeah."  
"I just hope he hasn't woken up. If I'm not around to stop him, Cosmo might do something REALLY stupid, like say, dump water on a teenager who's wearing a flame-pattern jacket!"

"AAH! FIRE!" came Cosmo's scream for the fifth time that day, as another bucket of water fell on Ash. Ash then ripped off his jacket and waved it in Cosmo's face, shouting, "THEY'RE PATTERNS, GOD DAMN IT!"  
"Oh. Right. Gotcha. It won't happen again, man...AAH! FIRE!" he screamed once more, trying one final time to douse Ash, before the latter ran out of the gym, screaming extremely vulgar obscenities.  
"What was all that about?" Cosmo asked, looking genuinely confused. "Who was that guy?"  
Jenny just sighed. "Maybe Ash was right. Maybe we're all on drugs."  
"Who's Ash? Come to think about it, who are you?" Cosmo said, then he took notic of Jimmy once more. "Fudge Head!"  
"Man..." Jimmy muttered to himself, "He's even dumber without Wanda around..."  
"I like head cheese!" Cosmo shouted. However, before he could do or say anything else unpredictable, a net caught him in its grasp, and some sinister laughter followed the event, as Wayne stepped out of the shadows, with Cosmo trapped in a magic-containing/channeling scepter.  
"Hey, what the...! It's so roomy in here! I like it already!" Cosmo said, staring off into space.  
"Get used to it, Fairy Boy." Wayne said, a smirk on his face. "This will be your home for a long time to come."  
"Wayne, let him go." came Jenny's angry order. "Or I'll--"  
"Or you'll WHAT?" Wayne challenged, walking closer to Jenny. "Kill me?"  
"That's right." Jenny said, forming a fist with her right hand.  
"Go ahead and try." Wayne said, unflinching. "But know this...you WILL die if you attempt to fight me here."  
Jenny growled, then charged at Wayne.

Ash ran through the hall, turning his head to see if Cosmo was following him. In doing this, he neglected to see the upcoming wall, which he promptly ran into. He turned his head to face forward, and noticed a door in front of him.  
"If he is chasing me, I'd better hide in here." Ash said, opening the door and stepping inside, bumping into a kid with a pink hat.  
"Hey, watch it!" said the kid, "You nearly made me let go of my balloon!" Ash gave a pissed sigh, obviously not wanting to be delayed from hiding from Cosmo.  
"Look, I'm sorry kid, but-" Ash got cut off by the voice of some kid yelling from in the classroom he tried to run into.  
"Hey, Timmy!" The kid called out. "See you tomorrow, okay?"  
"Alright, see ya!" The kid, Timmy replied. Ash was still pissed, for a moment, then it hit him.  
"Timmy Turner?" Ash said slowly.  
"Yeah...who the heck are you!" Timmy asked.  
"My name is Ash Ketchum, and your hologram is trying to drown me!" Ash shouted frantically.  
"Huh? Cosmo?" Timmy asked, smacking himself inwardly and thinking 'Why the heck did I leave him alone in my locker?'  
"Yeah, Cosmo. He keeps thinking I'm on fire!"  
"Uh...maybe you shouldn't have been wearing the jacket you're holding. He thinks flame patterns are actual flames."  
"Holy shit! Really! I never would have guessed!"  
Timmy sighed, then said "Where is he now?"  
"At the gym-like place."  
"You mean the gym?" Timmy asked, with a look of boredom on his face.  
"Yeah, that place."  
"Let's go get him, before he causes any more trouble...by the way, how'd you know about my uh--"  
"Hologram?"  
"Yeah, what you said."  
"Aside from the fact that he's drenching me, Jimmy told me about him and this other one named Wanda."  
"That would be me." said the balloon, growing a face, then changing into another midget person, this one being female. She had pink hair, somewhat curled in front. Her eyes were the same color, as well. She was wearing a yellow shirt and black pants,  
and, just like Cosmo, she had a crown and wings.  
"Wanda, at your service. Let's go find Cosmo before he does something even stupider, like, say, get caught by an evil man bent on destroying this dimension as well as every other!"  
"I'm all over that!" Cosmo's voice came from behind Ash, startling him. He turned around and saw Cosmo, trapped in a sphere attached to a scepter. Holding the scepter was none other than...  
"Wayne!" Ash shouted.  
"It's been a while, Ash. Well, not really. We just saw each other about an hour or so ago in Retroville."  
"Retroville!" Timmy asked, shocked. "That's where Jimmy comes from!"  
"Speaking of..." Ash said, "Where are they! What have you done with Jenny and Jimmy!"  
"Jimmy's here!" Timmy exclaimed. Wayne seemed to pay no heed to him, though.  
"Jimmy is fine. I would be more worried about your friend Jenny, though. I tried to warn her, Ash. I told her I'd kill her if she fought me, but she just ignored it, and well..." he trailed off, sneering at Ash, then continuing, "I'm sure you can use your imagination."  
"Yeah, she 'sploded real good!" Cosmo said, oblivious to damn near everything going on around him.  
"She...she's gone...!" Ash asked, his eyes widening.  
"A pitiful attempt at a kamikaze attack." he said.  
"No...it can't be...Jenny..." he said, dropping to his knees. He then lowered his head.

Enma was sitting at his desk, trying to get in touch with Ash. He then received a transmission from Janine.  
"Yes, Janine?" he asked.  
"Sir, I had made contact with Ash about ten minutes ago, but my communicator cut off. Is it dying or something?"  
"His transmission is being cut off by magical energy. Before losing all contact with him, I noticed that he was in Dimmsdale."  
"Dimmsdale, Lord Enma?" Janine asked, confused.  
"It's in the same time period as Retroville, but in a different dimension. It's downright notorious for fairy activity."  
Janine arched an eyebrow as she asked, "Fairies?"  
"Yes. They really exist. One alone can short out a transmission from a Spirit World communicator, or at least, make it awfully staticy.  
Two can completely block a transmission. That means two fairies must be closeby to Ash..." Enma trailed off as the ground started to shake slightly. The shaking then sped up. Ratty's cry of "OH SHIT! I SPENT AN HOUR ARRANGING THOSE FILES!" could be heard throughout the extremely large castle. All Enma could stammer out was.  
"This is...Spirit Energy!"

At the Ketchum household, Janine stood in a doorway, and across from her, Misty stood in another doorway. They were doing so because the ground was shaking more and more violently. "Is it an earthquake!" Misty shouted.  
"What! I can't hear you over the rumbling!" Janine shouted back.  
"IS IT AN EARTHQUAKE!" Misty repeated, this time, at the top of her lungs.  
"NO! SOMEONE IS RELEASING AN INSANE AMOUNT OF SPIRIT ENERGY, BUT WHO, AND FROM WHERE, I DON'T KNOW!"

Back in Tremorton, the ground was shaking as violently as it was in Pallet Town. Mrs.Wakeman stood in a doorway, pondering what the hell could possibly be going on. Did Ash and Jenny fail? Was the world ending?  
'XJ-9, Ash, please be okay...' she thought.

Haru was struggling to stay on his feet as the ground shook.  
"What the hell's going on! Is the entire world coming to an end!"

The trees were shaking madly, as the ground and the entire area all around Riku Kurosawa-Yukimora stood there. At first he almost fell, but caught his balance. He looked into the sky, which had suddenly grown dark, and simply grinned.  
"So that's what it is..."

Judy Neutron stood in the doorway entering the Neutron household, watching the pie on the counter as it rumbled closer to the edge. "Honestly, an earthquake, in a place like this! What's going on out there!"

Back in Dimmsdale, the ground shook more violently than the ground of any other aforementioned world, because the person who was releasing the Spirit Energy stood there in the school hallway. It was Ash. He was still looking down. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he spoke up.  
"You're a blight on every world. You do nothing but hurt and kill those around you. You've killed a friend of mine, and even though I haven't known her for long at all, she was a great friend. I'll never forgive you, Wayne Williams."  
In an instant, Ash was in the vile Wayne's face. He raised his right hand, and made it into a fist. Drawing his arm back, he punched Wayne with an intensity like no other. Wayne let go of the scepter, as soon as he hit the wall that was fifty feet away. However, the sphere didn't break upon impact. Wayne slowly crawled to his feet. That didn't surprise Ash. What DID surprise him were the two things that were on Wayne's face. The first was an EXTREMELY nasty look. The second, and more shocking, was...Wayne held up his left hand and trailed it down his forehead a bit, getting some of the substance on his fingers, which he held out to see. His eyes widened. "B...BLOOD!" Wayne shouted, now pissed. He then bent down and picked up the scepter. "Crocker! Come get the scepter!"  
Crocker stepped out of the shadows and grabbed the scepter. Instantly, he was transformed. Full body armor, colored blue,  
appeared around him, as well as a "pipe" shaped helmet. He cackled insanely.  
"At last, I've done it! I, Mr.Crocker, have finally obtained the magical powers of..." he trailed off, then, without spazzing, he shouted,  
"A FAIRY GODPARENT! THIS WORLD IS MINE TO CONTROL!"  
"Oh no!" Timmy shouted. "Crockpot captured Cosmo! Again! We have to do something!"  
"But what!" Wanda asked. "That sphere's untouchable by magic, because it's using Cosmo's own magic!"  
"Leave this to me." Ash said.  
"Crocker, I'm leaving Ash in your care. If you win, meet me in Jump City." Wayne growled, then opened a new rift and jumped inside, closing it behind him.  
"Timmy, get out of here." Ash said. "Things are about to get ugly."  
"Where do I go! If I even move, Crocker'll cream me!"  
"Duck into the class, I'll cover you."  
"...Okay."  
Timmy made a very short dash for the classroom. As predicted, Crocker shot a beam of magical energy at Timmy, but Ash got in the way and formed his finger into a gun.  
"SPIRIT GUN!" Ash shouted, shooting his own "beam" at Crocker's. The two beams fought for a minute, and Timmy took that time to duck into the nearest classroom. When the "fight" was over, both beams had cancelled each other out. Crocker looked shocked for a minute, then smirked. "So, YOU'RE Ash Ketchum. Wayne told me you've been a thorn in his side for a while now."  
"You're a teacher, right? Why are you taking orders from a sixteen year-old?" Ash asked.  
"I don't have to answer to the likes of you. Prepare for Heaven! Or Hell! Or Nirvana! Or whatever place you go to when you die in your religion!" Crocker said. He and Ash stared each other down, cross-examining each other. Then, after what seemed like forever, the two charged each other...

Author's note:Dustin here. What's going to happen? Will Ash win? Is Jenny REALLY dead? Find out both answers in the next episode! Stay tuned!


	11. Chapter 11

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 11 

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon and Caleb McGlone, wih help from Rob Volzke. 

Disclaimer? Why, it's in the first episode. Read it there. Hope you enjoy this one.

Ash and Crocker charged each other, the former shouting at the top of his lungs as they collided. Ash threw a punch, which then connected with Crocker, but failed to move or hurt him, apparently.  
"You'll have to do better than that!" Crocker shouted, slamming the scepter into Ash's gut, sending him flying into the classroom door. Ash slowly got up, and took a second to wipe away the blood trickling from his mouth.  
"You're not such a hack at this hero business, Ketchum." Crocker commented. "I daresay anyone else would have died from that blow!"  
"Well, I'm not anybody else." Ash said. He then brought out the Rift Sword, from behind his back.  
"Wayne didn't tell me you had a sword!"  
"I guess he thought you were gonna lose, then!"  
The two charged each other again, and Ash's sword met with Crocker's scepter.  
"Stop this crazy ride!" Cosmo shouted, spinning inside of the sphere. "I want off! Mommy!"  
Crocker simply laughed. "So, whatever happened to all that power you had when you hit Wayne?"  
Ash's eyes widened, as he realized that his body had apparently powered DOWN after that big punch.

The tremor had stopped back in Pallet town, and the three girls, Delia, Misty, and Janine stood there, silent for a moment, then Delila spoke up.  
"What was that?" Janine simply shook her head.  
"I have no idea, but it was...damn..." Janine couldn't even find words for what she had just felt. Then, they heard a yawn. All three of them looked over. Osaka was standing there, rubbing her eyes.  
"That was a good nap." She yawned and then stood upright. "I'm ready to continue my training, Ms. Janine." Janine sort of gaped.  
"You seem awfully calm after all that."  
"After all what?" Osaka seemed confused. The other three girls now had very large sweatdrops on their heads. Janine just sighed.  
"Nevermind, we have training to do." Janine turned to Delia and Misty. "I'll see you all in a few days." Everyone waved goodbye, and Osaka and Janine began to walk in the direction of their training spot. No words were exchanged, until Janine spoke.  
"Ayumu?"  
"Yes'm?"  
"If you could do one thing, with these powers you know you will be trained to use, use them for any one thing, what would that be?" Janine looked to the side as they walked. Osaka thought hardly for many minutes, before she looked down at her feet and stopped walking.  
"More than anything. I want to fight, and best, Wayne Williams and Riku Kurosawa. More than anything, Ms. Janine." Osaka was trembling. Janine just walked over and put a hand on her shoulder.  
"You would have such an opportunity to fight them, very soon, darling." She said softly. "But if you want any chance in hell, you will have to work many days with little rest. Do you want it?" Tears had formed in Osaka's eyes and she could not speak, but she nodded, determinedly. "Very good, now let's go. We have alot of work to do." Osaka nodded again, and the two began their walk to the training field.

Enma noticed that the ground had stopped shaking. He wiped his brow with his left hand, then said, "Whoever unleashed that Spirit Energy has absolutely NO idea of how to control it. Wait a second...that came from Dimmsdale...Ash!"

Ash also took notice that the earth had stopped quaking violently, signifying his drop in Spirit Energy. "Meanwhile, I'm still as powerful as ever." Crocker laughed. "Now die!"  
Crocker took another swing with his scepter, but Ash blocked it with his sword. 'If I don't get him on the defensive, I'm done for.' Ash thought.  
All of a sudden, though, a stretchy robotic arm, with extended fingers, grabbed at Crocker's scepter, barely missing. The arm belonged to...  
"Jenny!" Ash shouted happily. "You're alive!"  
Jenny smirked as she walked forward. "Thanks to Jimmy's program."  
"All in a day's work." Jimmy said, walking out next to Jenny. "What program?" Ash asked.  
"My 'Play Dead' program. It allows Jenny to explode and piece herself back together at will. When I mentioned Goddard, I thought maybe Jenny could use his program."  
"Maybe you can explode at will, but I'll destroy you, piece by tiny piece!" Crocker shouted, blasting Jenny with his scepter, which.  
did absolutely nothing. Jenny smirked as she said, "This isn't the first time I've dealt with magic-users. I had Mom install an anti-  
magical barrier in case just such an opponent would ever appear again!"  
"Well, your barrier might protect you from common magic, but can it protect you from the pure magical power of...A FAIRY!"  
Crocker then blasted her with another beam of magical energy, still doing nothing to her. She then raised her fist, and slammed it into the scepter. Crocker immediately pulled it back, shouting "Don't do that! You might break i--oh poop." he said, realizing he'd given out his weakness. Jenny just smirked, and charged the corrupt teacher again.

Wayne stood in a junkyard, on top of the highest pile of garbage. He was speaking to Plasmius via communicator.  
"That Spirit Energy surge from earlier..." Plasmius started, "...was that Ash Ketchum!"  
"Unfortunately, yes. The son of a bitch actually hurt me." Wayne said, still not smiling.  
"He's a lot more powerful than you predicted, then."  
"Again, unfortunately, yes. However, there is one good side to this."  
"And that is?"  
"Well, actually, two. His new partner is dead, and his energy can't be maintained, apparently, as signified by the end of those earthquakes."  
"Let's just hope he can't find a way to maintain it."  
"I don't get it, though..." Wayne said, slowly. "I felt his energy. It was about the same as me at 80 percent. Why then, did his power cause those earthquakes?"  
"Something is...unsettling about this." Plasmius said. "I believethe boyis no mere human. However, I have no idea what he might be." He then added, "Perhaps some research is required. You said there was an extremely large archive of files on every person that has ever existed, right?"  
"Yeah, in the Spirit World castle."  
"Maybe I should go fetch his file."  
"..." Wayne was silent for a moment, wondering if he should mention any specifics about Spirit World defences, then he decided against it. "Yes. Go ahead. We could use the extra bit of info on Ash, so when the time to take him out actually comes, we'll know all there is to know about him."  
"Got it." And with that, Plasmius' face disappeared from the communicator. Wayne turned off his own screen, and walked off, thinking about...well, actually, FANTASIZING about Ash's death.

Another punch landed against the scepter Crocker was holding. Cosmo, at this point, had pulled out a paper bag, and was vomiting the contents of his stomach into it. "Jane...stop this crazy thing!"  
The scepter was beginning to show signs of weakening, though. There were several cracks in the sphere holding Cosmo, and,  
try as he might, Crocker couldn't stop Jenny from hitting it. Ash, who had been standing there, silently watching the battle, decided he would try to lend a hand now. He stuck up his finger, forming it into a gun-shape once again. "SPIRIT GUN!" Ash shouted, but nothing happened. "What! What the hell! Why isn't it working!"  
"Didn't you only use one when you put out Wayne's cigarette in Retroville?" Jenny asked, still hammering away at Crocker.  
Ash's face turned blue when he realized that he'd already used up both of his Spirit Guns. "SHIT!" he screamed out.  
"Ash, don't worry about it. I'll take care of Crocker!" Jenny said, still unrelenting. Just then, she'd caused another crack to appear along the sphere's surface.  
"No! Stop that! You'll break it! You're a teenager, right! Then you have to take orders from me!"  
"I don't take orders from sniveling, opportunistic bastards like you!" Jenny said, giving the scepter a final punch, causing the sphere to shatter. This, in turn, set Cosmo free, and caused Crocker's armor to crumble.  
"NO! NOOO!" Crocker screamed, thrashing about on the ground. He even picked up what was left of his armor and tried to piece it back together. "It can still be put together!" he shouted.  
"Nighty-night." Jenny said, giving Crocker a blow to the head, knocking him unconscious.  
"Was that necessary?" Jimmy spoke up, arching an eyebrow.  
"Yep." Jenny said, smiling.  
Timmy poked his head out of the classroom. "Is it, uh...safe?"  
"Timmy!" Cosmo shouted, flying over to Timmy. Wanda burst from the classroom door and threw her arms around Cosmo, who returned her hug with one of his own. Of course, since he was holding a bag full of his vomit, it broke open when Cosmo threw his arms around Wanda, covering her with vomit. She was naturally grossed out, but she simply raised her wand, and in a second,  
she was magically clean.  
"I don't know how long Crocker's going to stay out of it." Jenny said. "I didn't hit him TOO hard."  
"Leave everything to me." Timmy said. "I wish everything was back to normal, and nobody in this town remembered any of it!"  
Cosmo and Wanda raised their wands, and a bright light flooded the school.  
"Huh?" Ash asked, confused. "Did something happen, or was that just a light show?"  
"Crocker won't remember anything after this." Timmy said with a smirk.  
"So, I guess that's that. How do we get to the next rift?" Ash asked.  
"Rift Locator." Jenny and Jimmy said in unison. Ash sighed and pulled the Rift Locator out of his pocket.  
"I keep forgetting about this thing..." Ash turned it on. "Oh, there it is. Let's go."

Wayne Williams had no sooner began walking, when his communicator began to chime again. He pulled it out and turned it on. When the screen came on, a look of disgust came across his face.  
"What do you want, you stupid whore?" Wayne spoke distastefully, a scornful look on his face.  
"Get over yourself, Wayne." the voice of a woman answered him.  
"The point is, I don't have any interest in talking to you. So what the fuck do you want, 'dear' sister?"  
"You know what I want, Wayne. I want you to meet me in Mushiyori City." Wayne just grunted.  
"When?" he said unwillingly.  
"Soon."  
"Fine." Wayne sounded reluctant. "But I don't expect to be seeing you for too long. Now goodbye, you stupid whore." Wayne pushed the button off and shoved it in his pocket as he continued walking. "Stupid stupid whore." he kept mumbling to himself as he walked on.

"Who was that on the communicater, Janine?" Osaka asked her mentor, who had just shut off her wrist communicator. Janine walked over to her.  
"Don't worry about that, darling." She said. "We have to continue your training."  
"Yes'm." Osaka nodded, and the two continued their exercises.

Author's note:Dustin here once again, reminding you to "tune in". And if you like our work, please, let us know! We appreciate any commentary on it, be it good or critical(Which could help us improve.). Anyway, episode 12 should be out soon.


	12. Chapter 12

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 12 

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon and Caleb McGlone, wih help from Rob Volzke. 

Disclaimer? I'll give you a hint, it's NOT in the first episode. :O Read on and enjoy.

Ash was walking around the now empty school, swaying the Rift Locater from left to right as he walked, trying to get a good read on where the next rift was. Jenny walked behind him. Timmy and Jimmy, along with the fairies, had returned to Timmy's household, as Jimmy had made it clear that he would NOT be coming with them to their next destination, which, if Ash remembered correctly, was a place identified by Wayne as Jump City, wherever that was. Ash suddenly produced a roaring loud cough, that seemed to be quite draining. When he stopped, Jenny spoke up.  
"You alright?" Ash's robotic female companion asked.  
"Yeah," Ash replied, wiping his mouth. "I'm fine." There was a silence. "Here, I think we're just about to the rift. The reading is getting pretty strong." Ash continued to walk forward, until he was at the door. The radar was showing 100 readings.  
"Here?" Jenny asked.  
"Yeah. Right in front of the damn door." Ash sounded a bit concerned. He cracked the door open, which he saw lead outside. He could see nothing out of the ordinary. People walking around in a fairly large city. He closed the door again and readied the Rift Sword. "Well, let's just open and close this quick, before somebody opens that door from the other side and comes out God knows where." Ash pulled back on the Rift Sword, and Jenny got into a stance that made her look like she was ready to jump in the second it opened. Ash made a slicing motion with the Rift Sword, and then, there was another rift in front of them.  
"Now." Jenny said, actually jumping in before Ash. The latter, however, was quick to follow, and immediately, the rift closed behind the two, and once again, they were falling, falling, falling, just waiting to be dumped out in some new location, and, as Ash thought, a really fucked up world.

Enma sat, once again, at his desk, now filling out a giant stack of paperwork. He switched on his intercom and said, "Ratty, bring me the file on Wayne Williams. I need to make those adjustments to it. Also, I need the file on Riku Kurosawa-Yukimora."  
"Yeah, yeah." Ratty's voice called out over the intercom. Moments later, he entered the office, both files in his mouth.  
"Here. Need any more before I lock the archives?"  
"Actually, I need a file." came a voice from the doorway. The two looked on, surprised to see a man standing there, he had semi-long gray hair, kept back in a ponytail, and he had blue eyes. He was dressed in a black button-down suit. He smirked evilly as he walked forward.  
"And what file are you looking for?" Enma asked calmly.  
"Ash Ketchum's file. Give it to me, now."  
"Why don't you suck it, pretty boy?" Ratty said, nastily. "Suck it long, and suck it hard!"  
"Don't provoke him, Ratty. He may not look like much, but he's just a step under Riku in terms of Spirit Energy."  
"No shit?" Ratty said, his eyes going wide.  
"So are you going to hand me the file, or do I have to take it from you through more...painful...means?"  
"I'm afraid I can't just hand it over--" Enma started to explain, but he got cut off by the evil-looking man.  
"What! Do you not know who I am!" he roared.  
"Vlad Masters." Enma said, his calm disposition not once fading. "You live in Wisconsin, 1,000 years from now. But there's more to it than that. You also have the ability to turn into a ghost. Your name in this form is Plasmius."  
"I'm impressed."Vlad remarked.  
"Did you and Wayne think you were the only two with an information network?" Enma asked.

"Actually, that is MY information network." Vlad said.  
"Regardless of that fact, Vlad, I know why you're fighting for Wayne. You realize he won't spare her, and if he gets the Spirit Stone,  
he'll kill you if you get in his way."  
"That's why I'm going to get it before him."

"Huh!" Enma's calm disposition had faded. "You know where it is!"

Ash and Jenny were met with weird glances by the occupants of the building they'd just fell into. They looked at the five occupants.  
The one on the left was black, with technology covering most of his body, save for his face and the upper part of his arms. Second from left was an orange-skinned girl, with red hair, and green eyes. In the middle of the five was a teenage boy with spiky black hair,  
wearing a red, yellow, green, and black costume. He also sported a thin black mask, tied around his head, leaving his white "saucer" eyes exposed. Next to him was a girl with purple hair , wearing what appeared to be a black one-piece bathing suit, as well as a purple cape and cowl. Finally, on the right was a green-skinned boy, with green hair, and a jumpsuit, colored black and red. "Dude..." the green-skinned boy said, looking at the two newcomers, "Where'd those guys come from?" "I do not know..." started the orange-skinned girl, "But I do wish to know, would you two like to be my friends!" she said, with starry eyes. Ash coughed something in response, before collapsing to the ground, unconscious.  
"Ash!" Jenny called out.

A dark shrine, a dark hallway, two people shadowed in darkness. That is where Ash stood now, amongst the two known as Danny and Jazz, before the door.  
"Okay," Danny said. "Are you ready?"  
"As I'll ever be." Ash said.  
"Ditto" Jazz said dully, sighing. Danny gave a nod, and Ash stpped foreward, motioning with his hands. One. Two. When Ash held up three fingers, the three of them thrusted their bodies against the door, which immediatly fell through, cracking off of its rusty hinges. As they all stood in the doorway, a figure stood before them. A shadowy figure. He was completely covered in a veil of darkness, and no features could be made out about him. For a moment, there was silence, as nobody said anything. The figure had its back to them, maybe it hadn't noticed them. Those ideas were erased however, when the figure began to chuckle, which grew into an evil laugh.  
"Something funny?" Ash shouted at the figure. It just continued to laugh, before turning its shadowy face halfway. The three teenagers had horrified looks on their faces, because the face that was halfway exposed was identical to Ash's.  
"Foolish boy." his voice, ghastly and heavy, said, sending chills up and down Ash's spine. "Even if you win, this will not be over." The man began to laugh again, and suddenly, everything went dark.

Ash slowly opened his eyes. At first he saw only blurry whiteness, but then his vision began to sharpen, and he saw he was actually looking up at a white roof. He also thought he could hear a faint, consistant noise somewhere in the background, and it made his head vibrate.  
"Owww...what's that sound...?" Ash said groggily, rubbing his head.  
"That'd be me." came a voice Ash knew all too well. He snapped awake and sat up, pulling up his wrist communicator. Sure enough, there was Enma. Ash rubbed his head again and realized he was insanely warm.  
"What is it...boss?" Ash sniffled.  
"Wonderful news, Ash!" Ratty had popped up beside Enma, and had a big toothy smile painted across his face.  
"Wonderful it is." Enma declared. "We've discovered the location of the Spirit Stone that Wayne is after!"  
"Awesome..." Ash didn't seem like he had much energy, but neither Enma nor Ratty took notice.  
"Our research shows that it's in a place called Amity Park." Ratty said. "But there is bad news."  
"Eh?"  
"You'll have to cross a handful of other rifts to get there. Amity Park is very far away, dimension-wise...Ash, are you okay?" Enma finished up for Ratty. He had also just seemed to notice that Ash wasn't looking all that good.  
"He's not doing too great," came a female voice. Everyone looked, and noticed that Jenny had been sitting there for quite some time. "He's been out for a while, but we think it's just some sort of flu or viral disease. Nothing a few days of rest won't clear." Ash sniffed again, his sinuses apparently draining.  
"B...but," he said. "Last time we tried to rest..."  
"Don't even start thinking about that, Ash." Enma scolded. "The last thing we need is guilt about what happened in Azu-Tokyo weighing you down. That is in the past." Nobody said anything. Enma calmed his voice and continued. "You just get your health back up. Myself and Ratty will try to plot you a course to Amity Park that you can use as soon as you are well. Jenny, take care of him. Over and out."  
"Roger sir." Jenny said. The communicator went blank, and Jenny sat there with Ash, tending to him, hoping that he would not be in this state for long.

Meanwhile, another week had passed in Pallet Town. Osaka and Janine once again stood out in the open field, both in a battle stance. Janine crossed her arms in front of her.  
"Alright, hit me." She said. "Remember darlin', you get one shot." She got in a stance as if she were ready to brace for something. Osaka just nodded. For a minute, nothing, then Osaka, took a breath, and quickly formed her right hand into a gun. It wasn't long before a small blue ball had appeared at the end of her index finger.  
"SPIRIT GUN!" Osaka shouted, causeing a moderatly sized bullet, but not near as big as Ash's bullets, to appear and be fired right at Janine. Janine took the full blow, and was only knocked back about a few inches. When the dust cleared, she stood upright.  
"You're getting better, but you make it too obvious to me when you are going to attack." Osaka began to jog to where Janine was.  
"So, ah need to surprise ya?" Osaka asked in her dialect. Janine nodded, and Osaka broke into a run when she was about a foot from her.  
"Yes, you need to-" Janine threw up her guard, as Osaka reeled back her fist to punch. At the last second, however, Osaka drew back and leaped over Janine completely. Janine tried to follow her, but Osaka already had formed a red ball in her hand.  
"SPIRIT FLARE!" She tossed the attack right at Janine while she was in midair. Janine was able to deflect it, but barely. After a second, a few trickles of blood started to fall from Janines cheek. Osaka had gotten her. For a moment, silence. Then Janine smiled, and patted Osaka on the head.  
"Very good, very good." she said. "This wound will heal, but you are coming along. Now come on, you get a break. Let's go back to the Ketchum house."  
"Yes ma'am." Osaka and Janine began the five minute walk back to the house of Ash Ketchum. About halfway there, Janine pulled out her wrist communicator. "Who're ya callin'?" Osaka inquired.  
"Enma. I have to ask him something." Janine had already pushed some buttons and had Enma on her screen by the time she answered. Enma looked surprised to see her.  
"Can I help you, Janine?" He asked, looking up from his stack of paperwork. Ratty could be seen messily filling out stuff in the background as well. "I assume the trainning is proceeding well?"  
"Hell of a lot better than I expected, but you know me." came Janine's reply.  
"Then what do you need?"  
"Actually, Emna, I wanted to know if you knew a way for me and Osaka here to get to the dimension where Mushiyori City is." Enma arched an eyebrow. "That's basically my way of saying 'I know you know, please tell me.'." Enma still seemed hesitant.  
"Any particular reason that you would need to go there?" Enma was calm. All Janine did is glare at him, and Enma seemed to get the message. "Very well, I can tell you. Listen closely, I'll only say this once." Enma gave Janine information that Osaka couldn't really make out, and the end was capped by Ratty.  
"And don't you be forgettin' it! Foo..."  
"Yeah yeah." Janine sighed. She didn't care too much for Enma's rodent assistant. "Janine over and out." She turned off her wrist communicator and dropped her arm back to her side. Osaka had pretty much been looking at her the whole time.  
"Why are we goin' to Mush...Mush...Mush..." Osaka seemed to have trouble pronouncing it, but she didn't give up.  
"Mushiyori City." Janine finished, after Osaka had repearted 'Mush' for the tenth time. "And let's just say you'll get the chance to do the one thing you told me you desire, and leave it at that." Osaka's eyes widened, and she trembled a little, but quickly regained her composure. She knew what Janine meant, but she didn't know if she was ready.  
The two finally made it to the Ketchum house, and walked inside the door.

Jenny looked down at Ash, who was sleeping peacefully this time. "Sorry, Ash, but I'm gonna find Wayne." she said, standing up and walking toward the door. She took one last look at Ash before heading out of the hospital-like room, determined to find Wayne.

Author's note:Dustin here. Caleb more or less wrote this chapter. Regardless of the fact that I didn't write too much this time, though,  
I do hope you enjoy this chapter, as well as the rest of the story. Stay tuned for the next episode.


	13. Chapter 13

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 13 

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon and Caleb McGlone, with help from Rob Volzke 

Disclaimer. First episode. Read there. Uhhh...

Ash awoke, in a cold sweat. He'd had another dream about these two mysterious strangers, Danny and Jazz. They had started to fight a shadowy lookalike of Ash himself. He looked at his communicator, and decided it was time to talk about these strange dreams. He sniffled, then pressed the button on his wrist communicator.  
"Enma..." he sniffled. "Come in...Enma..."  
Enma's face appeared on the tiny screen, after about a minute.  
"What is it, Ash? You need to be resting!" Enma said, scolding him once more.  
"I know, but I keep having these dreams."  
"Dreams, huh? Yeah, I have them too. Everyone in the world does."  
"Specifically, I'm interested in two people who are in my dreams."  
"Don't tell me you're planning to cheat on Misty..." Enma sighed.  
"No..." Ash said, a vein appearing on the back of his head. "Their names are Danny and Jazz."  
Enma arched an eyebrow at the mention of those two names. "Odd. What did they look like?"  
"Well, Danny was wearing some sort of black jumpsuit, and he had white hair and green eyes."  
"Do you know this Danny guy's last name?"  
"No. I only knew his first name. Why?"  
"We have a file on a semi-superhero called Danny Phantom. The photo of him that we have matches your somewhat vague description of him." Enma explained. "Perhaps you can verify...I'll be back in a few minutes. I'm going to get his file."  
"I thought the lord of Spirit World didn't sully his hands with files." Ash joked, albeit weakly.  
"Oh hush, Ash." Enma said, then his image disappeared from the communicator. Moments later, he reappeared, holding a file in his hands. He pulled out a picture of Danny, which Ash immediately recognized.  
"That's him." Ash said.  
"His real name is Daniel Fenton. He lives in...well, I'll be."  
"Where?" Ash asked.  
"Amity Park." Enma said.  
"Well, I'll be damned." Ash sniffled quite loudly this time, alerting the orange-skinned girl from before. Ash's eyes widened considerably as she ran over to him and threw her arms around him.  
"Oh, joy of joys!" she exclaimed. "You are awake!"  
"Uh...yeah." Ash said, feeling rather awkward.  
"New friend-hopeful, might I ask your name?"  
"...Uh..." Ash said, not really thinking clearly at the time, due to the force of the orange-skinned one's hug.  
"He's Ash." came the voice of Enma, from Ash's wrist communicator. "And before you ask, I'm Enma, I'm not a talking watch, and I'm not anywhere closeby."  
"Greetings!" the orange-skinned girl shouted, tightening her hug. "I am Starfire! What's your favorite color? Do you like animals? Will you be my friends?"  
"Uh..." both said, then, at the same time, answered with..."Black and red/blue and white, yes/yes, and sure, why not/and sure, why not?"  
"Oh joyous occasion!" Starfire shouted, smiling very big as her hug intensified.  
"Uh...Starfire...need...air..." Ash choked out.  
"Oh! I am sorry, new friend Ash!" Starfire said, finally releasing Ash. Ash took a huge breath.  
"Nah, it's okay. Say, where's Jenny?" Ash asked.  
"I believe she went to find the man with the hair of red, and the coat used in laboratories." Starfire explained, causing Ash's eyes to go as wide as possible.  
"WHAT! SHE'S GOING AFTER WAYNE ON HER OWN!" he shouted, before a hacking fit ensued.  
"Ash! Get back in bed!" Enma said.  
"And abandon my partner!" he said, through various coughs.  
"You're in even less of a position to take on Wayne now than you've been since this ordeal started!" Enma said.  
"But, she..." Ash started, getting cut off by Enma.  
"Bed! NOW!" Enma shouted, disappearing from the watch, turning it back into a normal watch.  
Starfire looked down at Ash, who was lying in bed, staring at the ceiling. "I believe Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy have accompanied her." she said suddenly.  
"Who..." Ash started to say, but remembered three of the five he had met earlier. One was covered with mechanical body parts. Ash figured that must have been Cyborg. The one with the multi-colored uniform was Robin, more than likely. And the green-skinned teenage boy just about had to be Beast Boy. He would have thought about the situation more, but sleep started to overtake him once more. He soon found himself asleep.

Ratty paced around Enma's office as Enma sorted through some files. He arranged them carefully. Ratty spoke up then.  
"Did you HAFTA give him Ash's file?" he asked.  
"We must do whatever it takes to secure the Spirit Stone before Wayne does. We didn't necessarily sell Ash out, Ratty." Enma said, a sly smile on his face as he continued. "There isn't one BIT of information in there that Wayne doesn't already know."  
"Still, you DID give that rat bastard your detective's file."  
"In exchange for the location of the Spirit Stone. Though, I DO feel bad about it."  
"And yet, I guess it was required." Ratty said. "So why didn't you tell Ash?"  
"There's no reason for me to do so yet. When this is all over, I'll tell him, and beg his forgiveness." Enma said.  
"Good." Ratty said. "Now, we just cross our fingers, right?"  
"Wrong. We can make Ash strong enough to beat Wayne. When he does that, then we've pretty much won. Vlad won't be much trouble, even with the Spirit Stone." Enma said, smiling.  
"Is there really a way to jack up the kid's Spirit Energy?" Ratty asked, eyes wide.  
"Yes. He's about to have a reunion with his old partner. His next stop will be Mushiyori City."

Osaka and Janine walked into the backyard or the Ketchum house. Lucky for them and what they were about to be doing, the area in general was almost completely secluded. Osaka was wearing a pink tank top and white jeans. For whatever reason, she also had a white headband on. Janine was just clad in her usual attire. All was quiet, until Janine's wrist communicator began to go off. She didn't let it beep for long before she turned it on and saw Enma staring right at her.  
"Are you ready?" Enma said, still seeming busy. "I am going to keep it open for a very short time Janine. You two need to--"  
"Yeah, yeah." Janine cut him off. "Just open it, Enma." Enma sighed at her impatience.  
"Very well." He said, scratching his head. Enma closed his eyes and said nothing. A few seconds later, a rift opened infront of Janine and Osaka.  
"Ready for-" Janine was about to ask a question, but when she looked, Osaka had already jumped through the Rift. Janine smirked.  
"Atta Girl." She said as she jumped into the rift after her apprintace. Before she knew it, Osaka was right beside her, and the two had felt a falling sensation unlike any other.

The two landed flat on their butts on the cold ground. Both were rubbing their rear-ends as they sat up, neither of them having a good landing.  
"First times're always the bumpiest, I'm guessin'." Osaka said with a slight giggle before standing and helping Janine up.  
"Darlin'." Janine replied, "it's been FAR too long since I've done that."  
"Oh."  
"Yeah." Janine gave a final rub. "Now then, we are to be looking for somebody. Follow me, Ayumu." Osaka nodded and the two walked down the hill which they had landed on. A large valley stood ahead, with a larger mountain range far beyond. In the distance, Osaka thought she could see a small temple settled into the mountains.

Ash sat up, after yet another dream-filled sleep, feeling just the slightest bit better. He raised up, slid around, and set his feet down on the ground. He tried to get to his feet, until a voice called out, "Azerath...Metrione...Zinthos!" and kept him sitting at the bed.  
"What the hell!" Ash asked, confused as to what was going on. The purple-haired girl from before stepped out, her eyes flashing.  
"I'm afraid I can't let you go anywhere. I'm sorry." she said.  
"O...kay...can you at least tell me what happened?" Ash asked. "And who the hell are you people!"  
"You collapsed from exhaustion. Did you get under a waterfall or something?" she asked.  
"I suppose you MIGHT say that." Ash said, thinking back to Cosmo dumping all that water on him. "Anyway, who are you?"  
"My name is Raven." the purple-haired girl said. "My friends and I are known commonly as the Teen Titans. We protect Jump City from people who would harm it."  
"You're just like I was back in my dimension, then." Ash said, starting to think of his mom, and Misty, as well as all of his friends.  
"Dimensions?" Raven asked.  
"Yeah. I come from a dimension fairly far away from here." Ash started to explain. "I'm in pursuit of a very evil man. He's also incredibly dangerous."  
"Is his name Wayne, by any chance?" Raven asked.  
"I see you and your friends have encountered him." Ash looked down as he said this.  
"None of us could even hurt him." Raven said. "He just took everything we threw at him without getting so much as a scratch."  
"It seems no one we've come across could ever come close to beating him." Ash said, downtrodden, perhaps from his illness.

The local bank was crawling with people "tied up" with tubes and gagged with x-shaped strips of white tape. A blue-skinned, white-  
haired man, with a white moustache and goatee to boot, was making all of the bank's money fly to him, via magic. "Now you see it,  
now you don't!" the man cackled. He was dressed like a magician, and he wore a black mask similar to Robin's. Suddenly, the doors flew open, and there stood Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Jenny.  
"Time for another vanishing act, Mumbo." Robin said, his eyes narrowing, as he let out his battle cry, "Titans! Go!"  
Beast Boy morphed into a rhino and charged Mumbo, the latter simply taking off his hat. He hedl it out in front of Beast Boy, causing him to vanish into thin air.  
"BB!" Cyborg shouted.  
"Nothing up my sleeve...oh wait..." Mumbo said, as Beast Boy flew out of his right sleeve, right into Cyborg.  
"Dude, get your butt outta my face!" Cyborg mumbled, from under the still-transformed Beast Boy, who then reverted to normal.  
"Hehe...sorry dude."  
Jenny just stood there and watched as Robin landed a blow to Mumbo with his staff, who vanished. He reappeared behind Robin and pulled off his glove and slapped Robin with it, causing the latter to fly into a wall. He then held his glove upright, with the "opening" upside-down, and out tumbled about a hundred bricks.  
"How the hell did you do that!" Jenny asked, from the other side of the room.  
"Tut tut, a magician never reveals his secrets!" Mumbo smirked, before getting punched from across the room by Jenny's extended arm. He moaned in pain, before passing out. Moments later, the police had the bank surrounded.

Osaka and Janine had been walking for about an hour now, and finally they had cleared the mountain, and had walked across most of the plains that covered the valley. They were finally in the presence of a large building. Apparently, the building that at first glance to Osaka was a small wooden cabin, was now a very large temple. They walked to about five feet from the stairs, before Janine held out her arm, motioning for Osaka to stop. She looked up at her mentor.  
"Now you stay here." Janine said softly.  
"I have a question first, Ms. Janine." Osaka said.  
"Yes?"  
"Are Riku and Wayne in that temple? Is that why we're here?" This question merely made Janine chuckle.  
"No darlin'." She said, putting her hand on Osaka's shoulder. "I'm not gonna feed you to those two yet. Ayumu, from here on, I'm not your mentor anymore. You will meet your new mentor shortly. Now stay here." Janine smiled and walked into the temple, leaving Osaka there, wondering what was in store for her next.

About ten minutes later, Osaka found herself boredly laying on the ground, staring up into the sky, with a smile on her face, a smile that said 'I don't have a clue'. Osaka walked out, and at her side, an elderly woman. The woman had dark pink hair, and was wearing what appeared to be lightly colored training clothes.  
"So," Came the voice of the old lady, an elderly voice that seemed to be somewhat raspy. "You say this is her?"  
"Yeah," Janine's voice could be heard. "Shes right over-" Janine stopped. Both her and the old woman were looking, but saw nothing but grass before them. The old one spoke, and she seemed a little mad.  
"Janine, I'm too old and too busy for you to waste my time like this." She twitched her eye at Janine.  
"No, no, no!" Janine said hastily. "She's here, can't you feel..." Janine stopped herself. "Wait, I can't...wait, now I--"  
"Welcome back, Ms. Janine!" Osaka twirled up from the ground and looked at the two, still with that same carefree smile. Janine and the old woman were dumbfounded. Of the three, the old one was the next to speak.  
"Well, I cerainly can feel her now. I can see why you want me to train her, Janine."  
"Train?" Osaka seemed confused. Janine walked over to her.  
"Ayumu, hon, this is Genkai. To me, she is the greatest matial artist in this dimension, maybe even more. She will be training you now." Osaka said nothing. "You get a month with her. In that time, I get a break. I'll come back for you then. Do you understand?"  
"Yes'm."  
"Good. Now, I will see you later." She patted Osaka on the head and sent her off. Osaka walked into the temple with Genkai. Soon the two were gone. Janine smiled to herself. It hadn't been too long, but she felt herself getting attached to Osaka already. She walked away. About ten steps later, however, Janine's wrist communicator began to beep rapidly. With an angry look on her face, she pulled it up and, with a surprise, saw not Enma. Saw not Ash. Rather, the face of a toddler, wearing an incredibly large hat, and with a pacifier stuck in his mouth. The person spoke.  
"Excuse me." his voice sounded young. "But just WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!" Janine was taken aback, but regardless, she was pissed.  
"Who the hell am I?" She mocked him. "Honey, I'm a Spirit Detective, and I don't give a damn WHO you are, you don't call me up and start shouting at me!"  
"Spirit Detective? HA! Like hell I'd believe that." Janine wasn't getting any happier.  
"Why don't you tell me WHO the FUCK you are, you stupid little baby!"  
"I'm Koenma." He said calmly.  
"Well then, Koenma...FUCK OFF!" Janine shut her wrist communicator off and walked on furiously, on into the mountains, knowing she only had about four weeks until the meeting.

Authors Note: Caleb here. I ain't written one of these babys in awhile. Anyway, the story, in my opinion, is coming a lot better than I had planned. Stay tuned for Episode 14. :D


	14. Chapter 14

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 14 

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon and Caleb McGlone, with help from Rob Volzke. 

Disclaimer. First episode. Read there. Uhhh...

Ash looked over at Raven. "Why did the five of you take us in, not knowing who we were?"  
"Actually, we didn't. I can contact spirits through meditation, including extradimensional ones." Raven explained. "One named Enma told me all about you."  
"Enma...my boss."  
"He said you were travelling the dimensions to kill Wayne. Why?"  
"Wayne's my enemy. He's obsessed with the annihilation of all life. He's looking for something that will advance that goal by at least ten years, or at least, that's my estimate. It's called the Spirit Stone. If he finds it, we're all gonna die. The power that stone has can turn a person into a god."  
"Is such power really contained in such a stone?"  
"Yeah. Like I said, the minute he gets his hands on it, we're dead."  
Just then, the door flew open, and Starfire came in with a bowl of something that looked like someone had deep fried the lawn. "Eat up, new friend Ash! It is a secret Tamaranian remedy!"  
"Uh..." Ash hesitated, waiting to see if the bowl was going to melt from whatever crap Starfire had cooked.  
"Please, try some! If you do not eat, you cannot gain your strength back!" Starfire insisted.  
Ash reluctantly took the spoon she held out, dipped it into the bowl of goop, and shoveled some into his mouth. Almost immediately afterward, it came right back out, along with the rest of the contents of his stomach.  
"That's not a good sign." Raven remarked.  
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU PUT IN THIS GARBAGE!" Ash roared.  
"I believe you earthlings call it penicillin." Starfire said, looking puzzled.  
"In other words, she put mold in it." Raven said.  
"I found it clinging onto the walls of the shower!" Starfire exclaimed, smiling brightly. This incited more vomiting from Ash.  
"It seems to have worked, though. You didn't sniffle at all, there." Raven commented.  
Ash took notice of this, then tried to breathe through his nostrils. He was overjoyed to find that his sinuses had indeed cleared up.  
Raven simply added, "Starfire's cooking actually might have saved us all. That's ironic."  
"Wow, that might have been the worst thing I ever tasted, but...thanks Starfire." Ash said. She simply smiled and hugged him in response, causing his air supply to be cut off once more.  
"Uh...Starfire...can't breathe..." Ash choked out.

Janine was walking down a sidewalk in Mushiyori City, when she received an incoming transition. She turned on her wrist communicator, and Koenma's face appeared on the tiny screen.  
"What?" Janine asked, irritated.  
"I just wanted to apologize for my behavior earlier." Koenma said, a tone of sincerity in his voice. "There was no reason for me to go off the handle like that"  
"No, it's okay. I could have been more calm." Janine said, with a weak smile. "Though I am curious as to why you don't think I'm a Spirit Detective."  
"It's because there's only one Spirit Detective working under me"  
"Under you?" Janine asked, as if the news that he employed the Spirit Detective of this dimension was shocking.  
"Yes. I am Koenma, ruler of Spirit World." Koenma explained.  
"Ruler of Spirit World? What happened to Enma?" Janine asked, genuinely confused. This time, it was Koenma's turn to be confused. "How do you know the name of former King Enma?"  
"Former king?"  
"Yes, former king...and my father." Koenma said, inciting a gasp from Janine.  
"You're Enma's SON!"  
"Yes, now, if you'll please answer my question..."  
Janine looked down, than began her story.  
"Oh man, where do I start? I guess I should start by saying that I'm from a different time period. Enma, your father, was my boss, almost one thousand years ago. My name is Janine Ruglia."  
"Wait just a second...Ogre! Fetch me the file for a Janine Ruglia." Koenma said.  
"You don't believe me?" Janine asked.  
"It's not that. I just want to confirm it." Koenma said, somewhat silently. A few minutes later, a familiar blue-haired woman stepped up to the screen. "Here's the file you requested on...oh my lord..." she stopped, turning her face toward the monitor.  
"Botan!" Janine shouted happily.  
"J...Janine!" Botan said. Tears then began to well up in the blue-haired deity's eyes. "You're...you're alive!"  
"Botan, you know this girl?" Koenma asked, before opening the file to start reading it.  
"Yes, she worked for former King Enma." Botan replied, still emotional.  
"Hmm...Janine Williams...you told me your last name was Ruglia. Why did you lie?"  
"Because.." Janine started, but was cut off by Botan.  
"She's related to the very villain she's chasing." Koenma sort of raised an eyebrow, but didn't seem all that alarmed.  
"Really now?" Koenma just continued to browse through Janine's file.  
"Yeah." Janine sighed. "Sucks for me."  
"At any rate," Koenma said. "We have some serious work to get to now. I'll get back to you Janine." Koenma nodded, and his face was away from the screen. Janine sighed and walked on. Did Botan really mean what she just said? If that was the case, then.  
Janine's thinking was inturrupted by the loud beeping of her wrist communicator.  
"Jesus!" She shouted. "I can't get anywhere without this damn thing going off!" She madly punched the button, and Immediatly saw Enma and Ratty. "WHAT!" she shouted. Enma and Ratty had leaped into each others arms, for she had scared them so.  
"Dayumn..." Ratty said after a long silence, then looking over and seeing he was being held onto for dear life by Enma. He jumped away.  
"Boy, don't you be thinkin' that that meant anything. I just got scared." Ratty started to scamper off. "Dayumn..." Enma just sighed and turned back to Janine, who still had a mad look on her face.  
"Don't do that, Janine!" he scolded her. "I don't know what crawled up your ass today, but I had news that you would REALLY want to hear."  
"Oh?" Janine calmed down a little bit. "And just what might that be?"  
"Ash will be in Mushiyori City." Once again, Janine's eye widened.  
"Really?" She stammered a bit. "When?"  
"Very soon." Enma said, happy that he had gotten Janine into a better mood. "Very soon indeed."

A common thug fell flat on his back, thanks to a punch from Jenny. She stood over him, and picked him up. Snarling at him, she slowly asked, "Where...is...Wayne!"  
"I...I don't know who you're talking about!" the thug said, fearing for his life.  
"My new friends told me you know where he is. Maybe you've heard of them. I believe they're called the Teen Titans."  
"...He'll kill me if I tell you!" the thug said.  
"Think of what I'm going to do to you." Jenny said maliciously.  
"You can't kill me! You're a robot!"  
"Maybe so, but by the time I'm done with you, you'll wish you'd told me about Wayne so he could kill you." Jenny said. The thug,  
looking like he was about to soil himself, quickly said "He went to Wayne Industries to steal Bruce Wayne's new super computer chip! He said it was to power some sort of portal or something! Please, don't hurt me anymore!" the thug screamed, then ran off the very second Jenny let go of him. She turned to her new comrades, who were idly sitting by.  
"Don't you think you were a little too hard on him?" Robin asked, his eyebrow raised in concern.  
"Wayne's a dangerous criminal. More dangerous than you could possibly understand--" "We know." Cyborg said, cutting her off. "We fought the guy."  
"He beat all of us." Robin said, looking down.  
"Like, totally beat us." Beast Boy added, dejectedly.  
"Well, hopefully the four of us can make a difference this time. I can't be killed so easily...wait a second...maybe we can use my near-invulnerability to our advantage...yeah! Okay, here's the plan..."

Wayne walked into a brightly-lit room. There, in the center, under a thick barrier of glass, was the super computer chip. With a smirk,  
Wayne walked over to it. "With this, I can finally broaden that primitive portal and reach the Spirit Stone!" Wayne laughed after finishing the sentence.  
He easily shattered the glass. Reaching inside, he grasped the chip, but got knocked back by what appeared to be a Spirit Gun,  
fired by...  
"YOU!" Wayne roared, looking ahead to see none other than his archrival Ash standing on the other side of the room, along with Starfire and Raven. "HOW DID YOU FIND ME!"  
"We had otherworldly help." Ash said, with a smirk, his eyes glancing over at Raven.  
"Is there anything meditation can't accomplish?" Raven said, smiling, for once.  
"We are here to stop you, fiend!" Starfire said, her pupils vanishing as green energy appeared "And so are we!" came Robin's voice, as he, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Jenny entered from behind Wayne.  
"So, the gang's all here. Seven-on-one hardly seems fair, don't you think?"  
"Fair!" Ash shouted out. "You want to talk about fair! Alright, let's talk about fair! You've killed MILLIONS of defenseless people!  
How the FUCK is that fair!"  
"I'm doing the world itself a favor, Ash. If you were smart, you'd do the same thing. The world is dying. Humans have corrupted it for years upon years. Each and every day, they search for a way to ruin it even more. They won't stop until Earth is devoid of all life." Wayne explained, then went on to say, "And that's why I'm going to stop them from doing anymore harm to this planet. I like this planet. I love this planet. Mother Earth has become my home. And you humans continue to pollute it with the desire to better your own lives." he finished, with a snarl.

"Enough of your nonsense, Wayne. I'm gonna do what I shoulda done when we first fought!" Ash shouted. Before he could charge,  
however, Wayne had opened a new rift. He put his left hand in, smirking.  
"Gotta go, ta-ta!" Wayne called out, jumping into the rift completely.  
"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Ash shouted at the top of his lungs. "GET BACK HERE, YOU SON OF A BITCH! GET BACK HERE AND FIGHT ME!"  
"Ash, let's follow him! He's not going to get away this time!" Jenny called out to him.  
"Wait, first..." Ash started, then turned to Starfire and Raven, saying "Thanks. Without your help, I'd still be in that bed." he smiled.  
"You are most welcome, friend Ash! Will we ever see you again?" Starfire asked.  
"Someday, I'm sure we'll meet again. Now, Jenny and I have to go kick some ass." Ash said, with a smirk, as he jumped into the still-open rift.  
Jenny turned and said, "Thanks, you guys. It's been real. See ya soon!" then jumped into the rift. It closed behind them. Beast Boy said, somewhat dejectedly "She never even gave me her phone number..."  
"It's not like she won't be back." Robin said.

Ash and Jenny fell rather quickly from this rift, this time landing in what appeared to be a rather serene valley. There were mountains on both sides, and the grass they stood on was green and lush. But what caught their eyes the most was what they had landed in front of. A large, wooden temple, imbedded into the base of the mountain.  
"He has to have gone in there," Ash said. "I can feel something strong in there." Jenny just nodded. "Let's go!" Ash and Jenny charged through the front door.  
"This is it, Way-" Jenny shouted, but stopped. Ash and her were both dumbfounded. Standing before them was not Wayne. Rather, there was a very old, pink haired woman, balancing on a pinpoint with the tip of her finger. What was more surprising was the woman opposite her. Ayumu "Osaka" Kasuga, as they knew her, was doing the exact same thing on the pinpoint, and both had strong Spirit Energy outputs. Neither Ash or Jenny knew what to think or say. The old woman dropped from her pinpoint, first addressing Osaka.  
"Ayumu, you continue." The old lady said.  
"Yes ma'am." Osaka replied, continuing to focus on what she was doing. The old woman walked over to Ash and Jenny.  
"I'd like to ask politely," She started off soft. "...What the HELL are you doing barging in in the middle of one of my trainning sessions!"  
"We're sorry, miss." Ash said, he and Jenny both bowed.  
"We're looking for a villain, we thought he came in here. Ash did sense some strong Spirit Energy." Jenny finished.  
"Come to think of it," Ash looked puzzled. "I never could sense Spirit Energy, how could I do it now?" He looked to Osaka. "Was I feeling her!"  
"I assume you were." The woman said. "I am Genkai, and she is my latest pupil."  
"HER!" Jenny and Ash gaped at the same time.  
"Yes, her." Genkai said. "If you'd like, you can stay and promptly explain yourselves."  
"Yeah..." Jenny said.  
"We'll do that..." Ash said. They sat down and began to tell the tale.

Authors Note: Caleb here. Episode 15 Coming soon.


	15. Chapter 15

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 15 

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon and Caleb McGlone, with help from Rob Volzke. 

Disclaimer. Episode 1. Read. Uhhh...

"So, that's what's happened so far." Ash said. Genkai stood up, and said, "You've been through quite a lot, in such a short time."  
"Yeah, but I'd really like to know...how did Osaka get here?" Ash asked.  
"A girl named Janine brought her here." Genkai answered.  
"Janine! She's here!" Ash exclaimed, then had a wide smile on his face. "This is awesome! The three of us can team up and beat Wayne senseless!" For the first time in what seemed like forever, Ash felt hopeful.

Janine's wrist communicator beeped as she approached an ominous-looking cave. She turned it on to see Enma.  
"Yes, Lord Enma?" she asked.  
"Janine, the necessary preparations are being made for the inevitable battle. Ash has been sent to Genkai's temple. Chances are,  
he knows that you and Osaka are there, so everything is falling into place. The time has come." he explained.  
"What time?" Janine asked.  
"The time to put Operation:Domino into action." Enma said. Janine looked at him quizzically.  
"Operation:Domino?" she asked, still not sure she heard correctly.  
"Ash will train under Genkai's top student for a month. In that time, he should become strong enough to defeat Wayne. If we kill Wayne, then his entire 'alliance' will crumble. Like dominos. Hence the name."  
"Oh." was all Janine could say.  
"I will be coming to oversee this operation personally." Enma said, causing Janine's eyes to go wide.  
"W...what! Lord Enma! You're coming here?"  
"Yes. I'll be departing momentarily." Enma said, calmly, then asked "Where are you now?"  
"A place called Demon's Door Cave. I think Wayne's in here. Or maybe he isn't, I'm not sure. Oddly enough, I haven't been able to sense him at all. I think he's actually scared."  
"Scared, you say?" Enma asked, in shock.  
"Yeah. I don't know what in the hell could have possibly caused it, aside from that surge of Spirit Energy. I just thought it was him showing off."  
"No." Enma said. "Even when he reached his pinnacle when destroying the Azu dimension, Wayne's power didn't cause the ground to shake. Someone else is tapping into untold amounts of power. I can't help but wonder if that might have actually been Ash."  
"Ash! Sir, if my sense was correct, that energy capped out at 225,000! That's a higher reading than anything that's ever been archived! Do you really think Ash could have pulled that off!" Janine asked, out of extreme amounts of shock. "To tell the truth...I honestly think it WAS Ash. But regardless of who that was, it's time to begin Operation Domino. I'll be meeting you at the opening to Demon's Door Cave. Over and out." Enma's face disappeared from the communicator, and then...Janine unfastened it from her wrist and dropped it, then stomped it into multiple parts.  
"Sorry, Enma. No one is going to stop me from trying to do this." she said, walking into the cave.

Wayne stood there at the bottom of the series of caves known as Demon's Door Cave. He looked around, checking to make sure no one was there, then...tears started to fall from his eyes...

An image of him as a child flashed through his mind. Young Wayne was running with who looked like a younger version of Janine.  
The two were running, and young Wayne tripped. As he fell, however, young Janine rushed to him and caught him. She then had him climb onto her back, as she kept running.Young Wayne then spoke up. "Quit it. Put me down." Young Janine responded with "No, I won't abandon you"  
"I can make it on my own, you stupid whore." he said, his voice full of malice.  
"You have a sprained ankle. I'm giving you a piggyback ride."  
"I said put me down!" young Wayne continued, hatefully. When Janine didn't stop carrying him, he started screaming. "NOW! PUT ME DOWN! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU, YOU BITCH!" he screamed, with intense ferocity, as he pounded her as hard as he could,  
causing him to fall. Janine let go of his legs only for a second, so she could prop him up again, then continued giving him a piggyback ride.

Janine was walking down through the various twists and turns of Demon's Door Cave, when a memory of her and Wayne came back to her.

A younger Janine, along with a younger Wayne, were playing in a garden of sorts. Wayne was swinging around a wooden sword and giggling quite loudly. Janine was pretending to be some sort of monster, also giggling loudly.  
"Janine, will we be this happy forever?" young Wayne asked. "Of course, silly! Mom and Dad are kind and just rulers1 They'd never let anything bad happen to El'her!" she repsonded.

A rift appeared in front of Demon's Door Cave, and out of it stepped Enma. He looked around for any trace of Janine. He gasped upon seeing her wrist communicator, shattered beyond repair on the ground. He stood there for a few minutes, before two words escaped his lips.  
"It's her..."

Ash stood, watching as Osaka resumed her training. He glanced over at Jenny, eyes wide. Something had just become sickeningly obvious to him. "Janine..."Ash said out loud, inciting questioning glances from the three females in the room.  
"What about Miss Janine, Ash?" Osaka asked.  
"She's the one." Ash said, eyes still wide.  
"What are you talking about, Ash!" Jenny asked, a little concerned. Ash looked on for a few minutes, before elaborating on what he had figured out.  
"She's Wayne's sister." he said, in horror.  
"Remarkably perceptive." came a voice from behind Ash. He turned to see the face of Koenma.  
"Hi." Koenma said, before Ash's eyes went comically wide and he backed up against the wall extremely fast, shouting "TALKING BABY!"  
"I'm not a baby!" Koenma shouted back, before changing into what appeared to be an exact copy of Enma, save for two things: a binky in his mouth and the abbreviation "Jr." on his forehead.  
"And it turns into a replica of my boss! This just isn't my day!" Ash cried out.  
"He's a regular genius, isn't he?" Koenma said sarcastically, sounding slightly more mature. "Now that we have that out of the way.  
you must be Ash Ketchum."  
"How do you know my name?" Ash asked, in wonderment.  
"Easy, I have complete, unrestricted access to the Spirit World archives. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Koenma."  
"KOenma?" Ash asked, emphasizing the "Ko" in "Koenma.  
"Yes. Son of former King Enma."  
"No shit!" Ash shouted out, amazed at this bit of information.  
"It's true, and I know what you're about to ask." Koenma said.  
"Then answer it already, if you really know what I'm getting ready to say." Ash said impatiently.  
"You're right. She really is Wayne's older sister."

"I was afraid of that..." Ash said.  
"Ash, you realize, by the way, that you still don't have a chance against Wayne, right?"  
"I was hoping that maybe Janine, Jenny, and I could fight and conquer him together."  
"The odds of Janine teaming up with you to kill her brother are extremely low." came a voice from Ash's wrist communicator.  
"Enma?" Ash asked.  
"That's me." Enma said as Ash lifted up his wrist communicator.  
"What do you mean?"  
"Exactly as I said, Ash." There was a pause. "At any rate, Ash, I have already made my way to Mushiyori City."  
"What!" Ash seemed shocked. "You're here!"  
"Yes, I am, young man. I will be at the temple soon. In the meantime, Genkai has a little something for you. Enma out." Enma's image disappeared from the screen, leaving Ash bewildered. What could possibly bring Enma, the Spirit World Overlord, here? His thoughts were inturrupted by Genkai.  
"As he said, I have something for you." The elderly martial artist said. She turned her head to face a door that lead to another room. "YUSUKE!" She shouted. Nothing for a moment, then the door opened. From the other side appeared a tall, dark haired boy, dressed in a red Jacket and blue jeans.  
"What?" The man said dully.  
"Don't give me that, you dimwit." Genkai said sternly. She then motioned at Ash. "This is Ash Ketchum." The man identified as Yusuke made a little "Hi" motion with his head. "You are to take the next month and train him so that he may fight a villian who has apparently made his way here."  
"What!" Yusuke and Ash both said simontaneously, though Yusuke seemd to be more angry.  
"Did I stutter?" Genkai didn't seem to care.  
"Why don't you train him?" All Genkai did was motion at Osaka, who this whole time had still been balancing on the pinpoint. She had her 'I don't have a clue' smile back on, and seemed to be pretty well focused. Yusuke just seemed more angry.  
"So you can't train two people!"  
"You know good and well I can't do that, you dimwit, not in the manner Ash here would need to be trained!"  
"Yusuke," Koenma spoke up. "You know, Ash IS a Spirit Detective." There was a long silence, in which Yusuke and Genkai stared each other down, Ash and Jenny sat there in silence, and Osaka kept focused on her assigned task. After what seemed like forever, Yusuke looked over to Ash.  
"Fine, I'll train you." Yusuke sounded reluctant. "But I won't be going easy on you, even if you are a Spirit Detective." Ash suddenly had a cocky grin on his face.  
"Fine by me." he stood up and looked at Yusuke with a confident look in his eyes.  
"Well, you've got spirit, we'll see how that holds up." Yusuke just shrugged, and began to walk out the door of the temple. "Follow me. We begin immediately." Yusuke walked out the door, not bothering to wait on Ash. The latter ran out after him, and knew that he would be much stronger in one month's time.

"Now, let me see if I get this..." Came the voice of Riku Kurosawa. He was sitting on a stump in the forest, the man he had met with on a stump in front of him. "All that I've done can be defined as both wrong or right?" The man opposite him nodded.  
"In a sense," The man spoke. He was silent. "I sense that you are expected elsewhere soon?" Riku nodded.  
"I am. Wayne fully expects me to meet him at the Demon's Door Cave."  
"Then you should be on your way, but I am just going to leave you with these words..."  
"I'm listening." Riku said. The man opposite him took a deep breath. "The world is not just defined as the dimension you live in. The world, or rather, a better term for it, the dimensional universe, is full of different dimensions. Everything in each of them is different. What would be considered an inexcusable crime in one dimension could be considered a holy act in another dimension." He paused, Riku just nodded. "You have seen many of these dimensions, and in that sense, know many things. You yourself, were even born of an inexcusable act, at least, that's the instinct, though it was accepted based on the circumstances. The point is, there are always two sides to everything. Anything and everything can be justified in some way. Judgment is everywhere, and always has a different perception. In that case, we are all lead to wonder, just what IS right and what is wrong?" The man stopped.  
"Well, I think I understand." Riku said, standing to his feet. "But I have to ask, what is the moral, so to speak?" There was silence, before the man spoke up again.  
"The point is," He said. "You need to be your own judge. You must do in life what you feel is right. That, my friend, is all I can leave you with." The man stood, and for the first time, some of his features could be made out. He had long, red hair, and green eyes. Riku walked over to him, and shook his hand, then hugged him.  
"I can't thank you enough, Kurama." Riku said to the man, identified as Kurama. "All the time you have given me, I truly think I understand now." For the first time, Riku smiled.  
"I truly hope you do, my friend." Kurama smiled as well. "Now, you must go."  
"Right." Riku began to run off as fast as he could, turning around and waving to Kurama one last time, before he disappeared over the horizon.

Wayne stood at the bottom of the Demon's Door Cave, leaning on the walls. It had been an hour since he had heard so much as a sound, with the exception of water dropping from a stalagmite ocassionally. Then, he did hear another sound. The sound of feet. Running feet. Wayne glanced to the east, and within seconds, he saw it. When what was coming came to a stop, Riku stood right in front of him. It was the first time in a few weeks, give or take the various timelines, that Riku and Wayne had stood face to face. Wayne stared him down.  
"I think you owe me an explanation, boy." Wayne said sternly. Riku just bowed his head.  
"I have nothing to say, Wayne." Wayne didn't seem to like that response.  
"You had BETTER have something to say to me, Riku. Maybe I didn't make myself clear..."  
"Later, sir." Riku pointed over his shoulder. Wayne looked, and saw none other than Janine only a few hundred feet from the cave entrance. Wayne looked back to Riku.  
"Yes, later. But you will explain yourself." Riku did nothing as Janine walked up to the two men.  
"Evenin', boys." she said.  
"Finally. What took you so long?" Wayne said hatefully.

Authors note: Caleb here. I've been trying to start pulling my own weight around here, and I think I've been doing a good job of it. At any rate, stay tuned for Episode 16. :D


	16. Chapter 16

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 16 

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon and Caleb McGlone, wih help from Rob Volzke. 

Disclaimer is in the first episode, where it's always been. Enjoy.

"I'm here right on time, thank you." Janine said, as she stared up at Wayne. Wayne took no notice, and Riku was sitting a few feet inside the cave, bored. He was watching drips of watter fall from the top of the cave. Nobody spoke for a few minutes.  
"I don't have all day, you stupid whore." Wayne said rather hatefully. Janine shrugged it off.  
"You know why I'm here, Wayne." She said softly. "I implore you, don't go through with it." Wayne just grunted, still looking the other way. "There are still people who care about you, Wayne." Janine's voice grew more desprate. Wayne still did nothing. "The human race hasn't wronged you, they really haven't." Wayne grunted again. "Don't make them suffer, Wayne--"  
"FUCK OFF!" It was all Wayne could take. He had turned around, and was inches from her face as he yelled. Janine sort of just backed up a few steps.  
"Wayne..." She tried to muster up.  
"I'm so fucking tired of hearing this. DEVIL GUN!" With lightning speed, he had formed his hand into a gun. He had shot the bullet right at her. Amazingly, Janine had dodged, in a way. She now had a big gaping mark on her shoulder, and blood was flowing out.  
"W...Wayne..." Janine clutched her shoulder.  
"Not bad, stupid whore." Wayne said. "That would have been a headshot." This caused Riku to look over his shoulder at Wayne.  
"Want me to help, Wayne?" Riku spoke dully. Wayne sort of just spat off to the side.  
"No, I need to do this." he popped his knuckles. Riku just shrugged and went back to dully watching cavewater. Wayne took a step toward Janine. "Now then." he said coldly. "I'm going to do what I should have done long ago."

Osaka was still balancing perfectly straight on her pinpoint, and had been holding that position for roughly 10 Hours.  
"Two more hours, Ayumu." Genkai addressed Osaka.  
"Yes ma'am." She replied. there was silence, as there had been for most of the day. Then, Osaka flinched, and fell from her pinpoint. Genkai walked over to her and seemed angry.  
"What was it?" she asked. "You held that position perfectly all day. What broke your focus?" Osaka stood up, and she had a look of panic in her eyes.  
"It's Miss Janine." Osaka said frantically. "She's in danger, can't you feel it? Can't ya' feel it, Miss Genkai?" Genkai nodded.  
"I'll admit, I have felt the same..." She started. "Where are you going? AYUMU!" Osaka had just run full speed out the front door.  
"I'm sorry, Miss Genkai." Osaka shouted back as she ran. "I've gotta help her!"  
"Wait!" Genkai tried to stop her, but Osaka was already gone. "Oh, dear..."  
"Don't worry about her." a voice came to Genkai's left. She looked, and there stood the Overworld of the Spirit World, Enma. He smiled at Genkai, who returned the gesture.  
"You have faith in her, Enma?" Genkai asked.  
"Well of course I do." Enma almost seemed enthusiastic. "She's been training under you for weeks, surely you've noticed her potential."  
"I have, I just don't think she's anywhere close to ready for Wayne Williams."  
"She isn't, don't worry about that." Enma sighed. "But she is not running off with the thought of fighting. She is making a rescue attempt."  
"It won't be easy for her to get away from Wayne." Genkai frowned and looked in the direction that Osaka had run off in.  
"I believe she will be fine." Enma said, as he began to walk off in the same direction Osaka had run in.  
"And where are you going?"  
"I have a message for Wayne. Don't worry about me, Genkai." Enma looked back and smiled. "If anything, go get some rest. Your pupil will be back soon enough." Genkai nodded and stepped back into her Temple, as Enma walked briskly into the mountains.

Three hours had passed, and it was the same thing. Wayne kept firing small energy blasts, small punches, little parrys. He had reduced himself. He was not fighting Janine, he was toying with her. The latter, on the other hand, seemed to be doing all that she could to put up a fight. She had been outputting all her powers, but Wayne was still putting her on the ground. Finally, Wayne gave her a strong kick to the back of the knee, and Janine was immediately on the ground. Wayne walked over to her and stood before her face.  
"Now do you understand, you stupid whore?" He spat in her face, and took a step back, motioning his hand into a gun once again. "This is payback for ten years ago, bitch." Wayne began to charge his Devil Gun again. The purple ball was on his fingertip, and Wayne was ready to fire. Then, Riku jumped up and ran to them.  
"WAYNE!" he shouted, causing Wayne not to fire. He looked to Riku, thoroughly pissed.  
"What?" He fumed.  
"Shhhh..." Riku said. "Can you sense that?" Wayne was silent for a moment. He then stared back to Riku.  
"I feel nothing, your awareness is Waning. Now shut up, I have to finish this." Then there was a sound in the air.  
"Hisssssssssss..." The sound of something falling, then, behind them, a red spirit energy ball hit the ground. Both Wayne and Riku looked.  
"Grrr, I'm getting tired of-" He had turned back, but Janine was no longer at his feet. "What the hell?"  
"Wayne, over there!" Riku pointed, and Wayne looked. Standing in the bushes, with Janine thrown over her shoulder, was Osaka. In her free hand, she had another Red Energy Ball.  
"You...!" Wayne began to walk to her.  
"SPIRIT FLARE!" Osaka tossed the ball, and began to run. It hit the ground in front of Wayne, then immediately shot red spirit rays up, hitting him in the face. Wayne grabbed his face, which was burning. He shook it off a moment later.  
"Riku, after them!"  
"I didn't see which way they went, and their Spirit Output...hold it, I'm feeling something else." Wayne had finally regained his vision, and he obviously felt it too.  
"Only one person?"  
"How are you, gentlemen?" Came a voice. Both men looked behind them, and there stood Enma.

"Focus harder, damn it!" Yusuke's voice sounded out through the dense forest.  
"I'm trying!" Ash shouted at his new mentor.  
"Not hard enough, you're not! The toddler says you can put out more!"  
"It's kinda hard to think when your former partner just stabbed you in the back, now isn't it?" Ash shouted.  
"I don't give a damn what happened to you, Ash! Being focused is the difference between life and death for all those around you!  
Now I want you to show me your use of Spirit Energy!"  
"Alright." Ash said. "Here goes!"  
Ash then formed his right hand into a gun, causing Yusuke to go wide-eyed, then shouted, "SPIRIT GUN!"  
A "bullet" of blue energy whizzed by Yusuke. After a couple of minutes, he finally said, "You can use the Spirit Gun?"  
"Yep." Ash said, smirking. "Pretty impressive, wouldn't y--" he was cut off by a much larger "bullet" whizzing by his head. He stared at his new master, who had fired the "bullet" in an instant, without a word. Said "bullet" had also destroyed quite a number of trees behind Ash, who just looked behind him with comically wide eyes.  
"There's the difference between our strengths. Our training sessions'll end when you can do it like I can. With your current level of skill, I'd say it'll take about a month."  
"So it all works out." Ash said.  
"Right. Hold on, I'll be back in a few. Consder this one of your precious few breaks for the next month." Yusuke said, walking away from the forest clearing.

The main office of Enma's castle was filled with balloons, streamers, and beer kegs. Ratty was busy waving his arms and "getting down" to some heavy metal. All of a sudden, Botan came into the room, looking extremely pissed.  
"Ratty! What the hell are you DOING?" she shouted.  
"That's Lord Ratty to ya!" Ratty said.  
"What?"  
"Enma left me in charge!" Ratty said. "Now get over here and shake that ass!"

After an hour or so, Yusuke returned to that clearing, and Ash noticed two more people there with him. One was a tall, muscular redheaded man, clad entirely in white. The other was also tall, but this person was female. She had long, brown hair, and was clad in a beige jacket with an orange shirt underneath, and matching beige pants. Both had brown eyes. The redhead spoke up first.  
"Is this the guy, Urameshi?"  
"Yeah. Gimme a readout, Kuwabara." said Yusuke.  
"Wait a sec..." Ash said, interrupting the conversation between the two of them to ponder out loud. "Urameshi?"  
"My last name." Yusuke answered. "So anyway, Kuwabara...let's get that readout."  
"Current? Or latent?" Kuwabara asked.  
"Let's get current first, then give me his latent energy."  
"Okay, let's see..." Kuwabara said, closing his eyes and focusing. After about a minute, he spoke up. "His current output is seven hundred."  
"Just seven hundred?" Yusuke asked, in disbelief, then turned to Ash and said, "Even my drunk-ass mom could beat you!"  
Kuwabara then spoke up again. "Now for his latent energy..." he said, then his eyes widened enormously as he felt around for Ash's energy. "Well?" Yusuke asked.  
"...A hundred and eighty-thousand! Higher than any of us!" Kuwabara said, eyes still wide. Finally, the brunette spoke up.  
"Kazuma, I think your awareness sucks. There's no way this kid's stronger than Yusuke."  
"Oh yeah?" Kuwabara shouted, "If you don't believe me, check him yourself, Shizuru!"  
The woman known as Shizuru sighed and said, "Guess I don't have a choice."  
She then closed her eyes, then hers widened considerably as well.  
"Well? Is he full of shit?" Yusuke asked. Shizuru slowly shook her head, then added, "It's DEFINITELY higher than what Kazuma said, though. I'm reading two hundred and twenty-five thousand."  
"So I was right. That energy DID come from you." came the voice of Enma, as he walked into the clearing.  
"Enma." Ash acknowledged, then turned to Yusuke. "So, I have an extremely high level of Spirit Energy, but I need to tap into it. Is that what you're saying"  
"Yeah, more or less. Though I don't think I can unlock your full potential in a month's time"  
"He won't need his full potential to beat Wayne." Enma said. "If you can increase his max output to just overa hundred and seventy-thousand,  
we can waste that son of a bitch."  
"A hundred and seventy-thousand? That seems awfully specific." Ash said.  
"Wayne's maximum recorded output isone hundred and seventy-thousand." Enma explained. "I figure he's hiding about three to four hundred units of energy"  
"I had no idea that's what we were dealing with..." Ash said, trailing off.  
"And that's why we have to keep going!" Yusuke said. "Now, let's get ready to continue your training! Shizuru, wanna lend a hand?"  
"Sure." Shizuru said, cracking her knuckles. "I could use some exercise."  
"Alright then! Ash, your goal is to hurt one of us!" Yusuke said. "As soon as you do that, I'll start teaching you to focus your energy more!"  
"Alright." Ash said, with a smirk. "This'll be fun."

Jenny sat and watched Genkai practicing. Genkai stood absolutely still, her bare right foot, or more specifically, her big toe, touching a pinpoint, keeping her balanced. Jenny suddenly stood up and said, "Genkai, ma'am, may I ask you something?"  
"Speak, child." Genkai said, not once breaking her concentration.  
"Do I have a spiritual force resonating within me?"  
"Child, why do you ask that?" Genkai asked, her eyes looking slightly down, to see Jenny.  
"I'm just curious...I'd like to think something 'alive' is inside of me, if you know what I mean. I want to feel like a real person." Jenny explained.  
"Jenny, you do indeed have spiritual force resonating within you. It appears to be quite a bit stronger than Ash's, currently. However, yours can not grow stronger until you fully learn its purpose."  
"Isn't it to save those we love?" Jenny asked.  
"I'm afraid you don't yet understand." Genkai said.

The sight Koenma walked in on was truly one that would be etched into his memory forever. Yusuke and Shizuru were ganging up on Ash, who was barely holding off their joint attacks. Also watching were Kuwabara and Enma. Koenma took note of the latter,  
walking up to him.  
"Wow." he said. "It's like looking into a mirror."  
"So, you must be Koenma, my future son." Enma said. "You seem to be doing pretty well for yourself here."  
"Well, you have taught me everything I know." Koenma replied, looking at his father.  
"Have I?" Enma asked.  
"Oh, undoubtedly"  
"I don't know if I say this much in this dimension, but...I'm proud of you, son." Enma said, with a smile.  
Koenma returned the smile, saying, "Thanks, Dad."

A month had passed in no time. As Riku sat and watched, Wayne was practicing on an extremely poorly-made dummy of Ash. He formed his left hand into a gun and shouted "DEVIL GUN!", causing the earth to tremble as it flew forward and obliterated the dummy of Ash. He smirked. "It won't be long now, Riku. Soon, I will be rid of Ash Ketchum. Humanity will meet its end at our hands." Riku said nothing in reply. Rather, he just stared off into space, wondering what was about to occur.

Ash stood in front of Yusuke and Shizuru. Both had eager looks on their faces. "It's time, Ash. Don't fuck up." Yusuke said.  
"Right." Ash said, then sighed, loosening up. He made his right hand into a gun, then shouted, "SPIRIT GUN!" and fired a blast that was a little bigger than the one Yusuke had fired off a month before to show Ash up. It decimated a good portion of the trees it flew toward, before exploding in the middle of the air. Ash smirked. He knew he was finally ready to take on Wayne. Yusuke spoke up, with the very words Ash had been waiting to hear.  
"You're ready, Ash."

Author's note:Dustin here, hope you enjoy this chapter. Stay tuned, Ash and Wayne finally duke it out, next episode. See ya there!


	17. Chapter 17

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 17 

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon and Caleb McGlone, with help from Rob Volzke. 

Disclaimer. First episode. Read. Uhhh...

"NOW! NIGHTMARES, COME FORTH AND DEMOLISH ALL THAT YOU SEE!" Wayne shouted at the top of his lungs, as the Rift Bracelet shined intensely, creating a rift in front of him. Out of it poured fifteen Nightmares. They all made little sounds of delight as they ran toward the nearest exit. "Wayne, why are you sending the Nightmares out?" Riku asked, "Is it because of Urameshi?"  
"Yusuke Urameshi is of no concern to me, my young apprentice." Wayne said, looking like he was in meditation. "That is, unless Ash has formed any sort of bond with this bastard. The pain of loss will strengthen Ash, making him even more powerful. Then maybe I'll finally fight someone who will give me a good workout!" he smirked. Riku said, "But I thought you said he was too dangerous to be left alive! And you've let him train with the strongest of Spirit Detectives! Which is it, Wayne? Do you want him to fight you, or do you want him dead?" Riku shouted. Wayne turned toward Riku, his meditative look now replaced with one of seething rage. His eyes were no longer green, but a downright scary amber color. He spoke slowly, to accentuate his point.  
"Don't you EVER talk to me with that tone again. Do you understand?" Riku looked down, his fists clenched, and slowly replied with, "Yes sir..."  
"Good." Wayne said, looking back toward the only exit from the room they were in, then he continued speaking. "I want to kill him myself. Every person who's attempted to kill him was just a pawn in my little chess game." he smirked finally, though his eyes were still amber-colored.

The entire gang(Ash, Jenny, Yusuke, Enma, Koenma, Kuwabara, Shizuru, and Genkai) stood at the mouth to Demon's Door Cave.  
Ash let out a small whistle, noticing how the inside was completely devoid of light. "So, uh...is it supposed to be this dark?" Ash asked.  
"No, there should be torches lit in various places." Koenma said.  
"This darkness is not natural." came a voice from behind the group. They turned to see a very short man. He had spiked black hair, with white "starbursts", and red eyes. He wore a white bandanna on his forehead, but was otherwise clad entirely in black.  
"What do you mean "not natural", Hiei?" Yusuke asked.  
"Something's causing the darkness." the short man, known as Hiei, answered. "Though I don't know what it is."  
"I can answer that for you." Enma spoke up. "Nightmares."  
"Oh shit!" Ash shouted. "He's released more of those things?"  
"I'm afraid so." was Enma's response. Suddenly, the nine of them sensed a new presence. As this presence emerged, they could tell he was male, though his hair style and the gentle nature of his face would lead more ignorant people to believe otherwise. This man had long red hair, and green eyes. He was clad in white pants, and a red shirt. He looked toward the cave they were staring at a minute before he had arrived.  
"Whoa. Gave me a bit of a scare there, Kurama." Yusuke said.  
"I apologize. I dare say, though, that if I were an enemy, I more than likely couldn't handle seven fighters at once." Kurama said, a bit of a smile on his face. "I felt an enormously powerful Spirit Energy output, and it came from the bottom of Demon's Door Cave."  
"Yep. Another psycho bastard's inhabiting the bottom, and Ash here is supposed to be the only one who can stop him." Yusuke said, as if some all-powerful being had been in this place before. Kurama reached his hand out for a shake from Ash and Jenny.  
"How do the two of you do. I'm Shuichi Minamino, but you can call me Kurama." he said, politely. Ash shook his hand first, then Jenny shook it.  
"I'm Ash Ketchum. I come from a time long ago."  
"So do I." said Enma.  
"And I'm Jenny Wakeman. Pleased to meet you." Jenny said.  
"Let's save the introductions for later, you guys." Yusuke said, "We have a job to do."  
"So from here on out, it's just eight of us." Ash said. "Enma and Koenma, stay here."  
"Right." Enma said, then added, as the eight fighters started to walk off, "Ash?"  
"Yeah?" Ash asked, turning his head to se his boss. Enma smiled, then said, "Take him down, Ash."  
Ash returned the smile and said, "Sure thing, boss."  
The eight walked into the cave, anxious to reach the bottom and get this over with.

Wayne stood perfectly still, silently meditating to himself. Suddenly, the room began to light up, though just barely, as cracks appeared in the ground, revealing magma underneath. He suddenly opened his eyes, with a frown on his face.  
"Looks like the Nightmares are about to prove useless as well. It appears the only person in this entire world I can count on is myself. Big surprise there." he said.  
"Wayne..." Riku said, "...let me go and fight these intruders. I won't fail you like the rest ha--" he was interrupted by a Devil Gun whizzing by his ear, blowing away a large chunk of the wall behind him.  
"Stay here." he said. "And do not make a noise. When Ash and his friends arrive, your job will be to keep the others from interfering in our fight, unless I give you specific other instructions. Got it?" Riku slowly nodded his head, coming to the conclusion that Wayne was dangerously psychotic.

Ash and friends, meanwhile, had run into the group of Nightmares that had emerged sooner. "Great, some shit to wipe up." Ash muttered. "If you can understand us..." he said out loud, knowing full well that the Nightmares weren't going to listen to what he was about to say, "...then get the fuck out of our way!"  
The Nightmares responded to this by baring their extremely sharp fangs and charging the group. Before Ash, Jenny, or Yusuke could react, though, Kurama, Hiei, and Shizuru had shoved them into a hole, which they rocketed down.  
"That should lead straight to this man called Wayne!" Kurama called.  
"It's up to you guys now! Take that bastard down so we can all go home!" Shizuru called.  
"Don't screw this up." Hiei said.  
The Nightmares quickly surrounded the remaining five warriors. "Anyone else think sending Urameshi down with Ash and Jenny was a bad idea?" Kuwabara asked. "Oh, suck it in, bro." Shizuru said, then smirked the tiniest bit. "Let's kick some ass."

Wayne noticed a rather large section of the ceiling crumble, and Ash, Jenny, and Yusuke falling through it, landing on the rubble of the aforementioned ceiling section.  
"Hey there." Ash said, smirking as he stood up.  
"Hey yourself." Wayne smirked back, his arms folded across his chest. "You look much stronger than before"  
"It's all thanks to my training." Yusuke said, semi-beaming, before Wayne said, "Was I talking to you?"  
"I'll handle this." Ash said, looking back, before turning to Wayne once more and saying, "I've been waiting a LONG time for this."  
"Same here, Ash." Wayne replied, actually sliding off his lab coat. Underneath it, he wore a long-sleeve green shirt. When the coat hit the floor, a crash was heard.  
"Holy shit..." Yusuke said, in a hushed tone. "His coat's weighted down."  
"That means he's gonna be able to move even faster with it off..." Jenny whispered.  
"I don't care how fast he moves." Ash whispered back to his two friends. "I'm still gonna knock his ass into Hell at the speed of light!"  
He then noticed the shocked expressions on the faces of his two companions, and turned to see what they were looking at; Wayne, who was standing right in front of him. "What the--" was all that managed to escape his lips before the wind was knocked out of him by Wayne. He gasped in desperation, trying to fill his lungs with air.

Ratty and Botan watched in shock as Wayne punched Ash.  
"Christ, that little BASTARD! When I get my hands on 'im, he'll be sorry!" Ratty shouted angrily, giving Wayne "the finger" from the safety of Enma's palace.  
"What a cheap shot! I hope Ash beats him into oblivion!" Botan said angrily. "The NERVE of that creep!"

"So, it's begun..." Janine said, sadly.  
"What's begun, ma'am?" Osaka asked.  
"The end of the world, Ayumu." Janine said.  
"Isn't there some way to stop it?" Osaka asked, worried.  
"No, only Ash can." Janine said.  
"Oh..." Osaka said, her mind wandering.  
'Actually, the end of THE world is rather inaccurate. The end of MY world is what I was trying to say.' Janine thought, a solitary tear rolling down her cheek, unnoticed by her student.

"Do you really think you're strong enough to take me on this time, Ash?" Wayne asked, smirking. His regular eye color was back, but he still seemed somewhat pissed about something. His smirk was wiped away from his face as quickly as it took Ash to retaliate with his own punch. Wayne's smirk was now an open-mouthed expression of surprise. Ash smirked, and said, "Why don't you let that punch fill you in on just how strong I've become?"  
"Not bad, Ash...not bad at all..." Wayne said, catching his breath. He then disappeared, reappearing on the other side of the room.  
The two enemies stared each other down.  
"What time is it?" Yusuke asked, looking at Jenny.  
"Less than thirty seconds until midnight." Jenny answered. From that point, thirty seconds seemed like an eternity to everyone in the room.As they passed ever-so-slowly, the two rivals continued to stare each other down, both looking into the depths of the other's soul. Time seemed to stand still for everyone but Ash and Wayne as Jenny's internal clock finally hit midnight. All of a sudden, the two warriors disappeared, then reappeared in the center of the vast room. Ash punched Wayne in the face, and Wayne "returned the favor", so to speak. The two continued punching each other for several minutes, until Wayne's left index finger was suddenly in Ash's face. He shouted "DEVIL GUN!", but before he could fire it, Ash's foot nailed him in the crotch. Wayne's eyes widened rather comically as he dropped to the floor for just a second, long enough to clutch his privates. Ash took this opportunity to distance himself from Wayne, and form his right hand into a gun. He then shouted "SPIRIT GUN DOUBLE!", and two Spirit Gun bullets flew from his fingertip, both hitting Wayne precisely in his chest. The latter screamed out in pain, as he flew all the way across the large room, into a wall. He slowly got up and disappeared again. He reappeared on Ash's left, about twenty feet away, and got ready to fire again. However, he put down his finger, then snapped his fingers in Riku's direction. Riku nodded,  
and, without being told to do anything, he revealed a sword, still sheathed, from under his cloak, which he then tossed to Wayne.  
Wayne smirked as he fit the sheath into one of his belt loops on his brown trousers. "You are so screwed now, Ash Ketchum."  
Wayne said, his smirk becoming his trademark evil sneer. He then disappeared, and this time, Ash couldn't track him.  
"What the hell?" he called out. "Did you freaking run away from me again, you chickenshit?"  
"ASH, LOOK OUT!" came the very loud cry of Koenma, who had reached the bottom of Demon's Door Cave. Before Ash could move out of the way, though, Wayne's sword cut him across the chest in a skyward arc, and he fell backwards, screaming out in pain.  
"ASH!" Jenny and Yusuke cried out simultaneously. After a minute or so, Ash slowly got to his feet. "Did you like it?" Wayne said, with a smirk. "It's called Shukuchi."  
"Shukuchi?" came the voice of Enma, who appeared next to Koenma.  
"It's a sword attack." Koenma explained. "It defies the imagination. It goes so fast that the eyes don't register the movement. The ultimate attack for an assassin."  
"You've done your homework, Koenma." Wayne said, sneering as he looked toward Koenma.  
"No, I read my files." Koenma responded. "And the files I have only have one recorded user of the Shukuchi."  
"Soujiro Seta." Wayne answered. "I know all about him. I learned it simply by studying his movements in secret."  
"But when did you get the chance to do that?" Enma asked.  
"Spirit World intelligence is rather horrible. I had the sword and the bracelet MONTHS before I even met Ash! In just a few measly months, I've explored a good deal of the surrounding dimensions. I have allies who would do anything for me, just to get what they want! But they mean nothing to me!" Wayne shouted. Riku's eyes went wide, realizing what he was guessing at ever since Vexus died.  
'He doesn't give a shit about me.' Riku thought.  
Wayne then raised his finger to the sky, and shouted, "DEVIL GUN!", firing one of his own bullets into the cave roof and creating a large hole in it, from which moonlight poured into.  
"Full moon..." he said, with a smirk. "Perfect..."  
He then raised his sword, but before the moonlight hit it, Koenma shouted out "SHIELD YOUR EYES!", then did exactly as he himself said. Everyone else followed suit. Wayne then shouted out, "RAI RYU SEN!", as horribly blinding light flooded the cavern.

The group above had finished with all but a couple of the Nightmares, when a horribly blinding light erupted from the hole they had shoved Ash, Jenny, and Yusuke down into, and that Enma and Koenma had jumped into. Everyone had shut their eyes, except for Shizuru, who didn't shut her left eye in time when the light flooded in. Genkai quickly took care of the last two with a well-placed,  
widespread blast of Spirit Energy, then, with her eyes still shut, jumped into the hole, the other four following her.

"Ash! Get him now!" Enma shouted.  
"Right!" Ash shouted back, then the Rift Sword disappeared from everyone's view, as Ash's energy shot up tremendously. He fired the same widespread Spirit Energy Genkai had just fired, except, he announced the name of the attack. "SHOTGUN!" Ash shouted,  
and the energy burst forth, hitting Wayne square in the chest, and actually tearing through it, causing quite a bit of blood to fly forward. As the light slowly faded, everyone opened their eyes, and stared in open-mouth shock. Wayne was lying on the ground, motionless, a look of sheer horror on his face.  
"Ash..."Jeny said slowly, "you...you did it!"  
"I did...I DID do it!" Ash exclaimed happily. Enma let out a large whoop of joy. Riku just stared on, his eyes wide.  
"Wayne..." he said.

"HE DID IT! ASH WON!" Botan shouted happily.  
"YEAH! THAT'S MY BOY!" Ratty shouted, even happier.  
Ratty set off a few fireworks at that point, right there in the office. He and Botan scrambled around the room like mad, dodging the fireworks as they celebrated.

"So...it's over..." Janine said.  
"That's good, right?" Osaka asked.  
"...Yeah. It's for the greater good that my brother was killed." Janine said.  
"All this time...ah'd never known your brother was Wayne, Miss Janine." Osaka said, feeling only the slightest bit of guilt for bearing hatred against Wayne, when he was her teacher's brother. Then again, no one in the universe could fault her for hating him.

The Spirit Detectives were still overjoyed about their victory, when a voice spoke up, that sent chills down their spines.  
"What are you celebrating over? I'm still alive..." the voice said weakly, and it was coming from.  
"Wayne! It can't be!" Ash cried out. "I blew a goddamn hole in your chest!"  
Everyone stared in horror as Wayne stood up. As he did so, they could see his beating heart through the hole Ash had made. Then, something more horrifying happened. His now-ventilated chest was then covered by thick blackness. Wayne staggered toward the still-open rift. He turned his head back. Though still alive, he looked like he was on the verge of death. He snarled, then said, "Riku...take care of those bastards...", and stuck his hand into the rift.  
"Ash, don't let him get away!" Enma shouted.  
"Too...late..." Wayne said, not stepping, but rather, falling into the rift.  
"NOOO!" Ash shouted at the top of his lungs, firing a Spirit Gun in Wayne's direction. However, it was caught by Riku.  
"Get going." Riku said, though he knew Wayne had already vanished.  
"Riku!" Ash shouted angrily. "You still haven't realized you're just Wayne's pawn, have you"  
"Fuck Wayne." Riku said. "I'm doing this for my own reasons.", then got into a fighting stance. "Ash Ketchum! I'm going to take that sword from you, and use it to strike Wayne himself down! Then I'll have everything I've ever wanted!"

Author's note:Dustin here. That chapter took a while to write, for some odd reason. Anyway, hope you enjoy. Chapter 18 is on its way!


	18. Chapter 18

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 18 

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon and Caleb McGlone, with help from Rob Volzke. 

Disclaimer. First episode. Read. Unf Unf.

Ash and Riku stared each other down. The tension was building between them, but neither of them could place why there was hatred. This was more the case with Riku. Was this out of hate, remorse, pain, a need? So many things going through his head in an instant. Then, slowly, he dropped his coat. Like Wayne's, it was weighted, causing a large thud when it hit the ground. Riku now stood there, in his black tank top and beige slacks. Though he looked nothing more than casual, he stood in a battle stance. Ash did the same, but he still tried to reason.  
"So, you have figured it out." Ash said calmly. Riku did nothing but stare him down with those red eyes. "You should have known this, Riku, you're doing yourself a favor, but this won't get you-" Ash was cut off.  
"Shut up..." Riku had whispered. All was silent. "Shut up..." more loud. "Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" He had quickly switched to a yell, and to everyones surprise, there were small tears running down the side of his face. "You don't know Ash. You don't know the twisting, turning, hell that is my life. Don't try to preach to me now. It's much too late for that." He was calm as he wiped his face. "And I'm gonna do what I have to do, even if it means killing you."  
"Yeah, we'll-" Ash had jumped to the right to avoid a punch from Riku, who had charged him very fast. Ash tried to counter, throwing a right hook at Riku's face, but missed as Riku ducked. Riku then rose his foot and was able to boot Ash right in the chin. Ash hit the wall of the cave, but ducked as Riku tried to land a Cross Chop.  
This went on and on, both men never landing a single hit on the other. Everyone on the sidelines watched with envy, and to a few of them, the thought even crossed their mind that Riku was stronger than Wayne.

Janine and Osaka had been running, and finally they reached the hole in the Demon's Door Caves.  
"Did they go down there, Ms. Janine?" Osaka asked her mentor.  
"Indeed, can you not feel them?" Janine replied slowly. She had been acting broken, though Osaka had not been able to feel that her mentor was emotional.  
"Let's follow 'em!" Osaka, without waiting for Janine's approval, jumped down. The latter just smiled and slowly followed her down. When Janine hit ground level, she was met by Osaka running in her direction. "Ms. Janine, come look!"  
"What is it?"  
"Can't ya feel it? Come on!" Janine and Osaka ran, and though it didn't mean much to Janine, Osaka liked what she was seeing, as she joined the few people watching, because she felt Ash could win the fight.

"Spirit Gun!" Ash had quickly formed his hand into a gun and shot at Riku. The latter however, caught the bullet, just as before, only this time, threw it back at Ash with his left hand. Immediatly, his right hand began to glow with an orange aura.  
"Fist of the Mortal Flame!" Riku made a punching motion, and immediately behind the Spirit Gun that Ash had thrown was now a large orange Spirit Energy ball. Ash was able to jump out of the way of the first beam, but the second beam got him dead center, slamming Ash into the roof of the Cave. Through the dust, rocks where heard crumbling, then falling to the ground. For a minute, all was silent.  
"Impressive mastery of that move, I will give him that." the short man by the name of Hiei said. "Though I would still like to think I can do it better." Riku just looked back at Hiei and grunted, then looked back. The dust had cleared, and Ash was on the ground. With no emotion on his face, Riku walked over to Ash, kicking the fallen rock off of him. He turned Ash over on his back, and held his fist up, rearing it back. He had Ash pinned down, and Ash was helpless, though nobody was about to interrupt this fight. Ash coughed as he looked up at Riku, their faces inches apart.  
"Do you understand now, Ash?" Riku said, hatefully, his eyes tearing up. Then, in a gleam, Ash noticed Riku's eyes were not red. Rather, they were baby blue. The thought was cut by Riku again. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" Silence. "No...no...I wouldn't expect you to understand. Not at all. That's why you are dead!" Riku's fist began to glow with that orange aura again. "Fist of--"  
"NO!" a voice called out, causing everyone to look to the left. Osaka, with tears building up in her eyes. "You're a true monster." Everyone looked at her, and so did Riku, his teeth gritted, his fist still burning with the mortal flame. Suddenly, thoughts began to go through his mind.  
'She's right, you know?' one voice said. 'You are a monster.' said another. 'Just like Wayne.' came a third. 'Do you really want that, Riku?' a fourth mumbled. 'I don't think you do.' came a fifth.  
"No." came Riku's voice. "No, no, NO!" Riku jumped up, and seemingly roared with rage. "FIST OF THE MORTAL FLAME!" Everyone flinched, but when the dust cleared, Ash was still alive. No harm at all. All eyes were on Ash. Then, all turned to the right. Riku was walking out a hole in the wall of the cave, mumbling to himself. "I won't..." Then, Ash's voice was heard.  
"R...Riku..." he grunted, trying to pull himself up. Riku ignored him.  
"I am...not...Wayne." With that, Riku Kurosawa jumped out of the hole, and was off into the night. After a few minutes of nothing, Jenny, Janine, Osaka and Yusuke ran over to Ash's aid.  
"Ash, are you okay?" Jenny asked. Ash just grunted, before pushing everyone away and standing up on his own two feet. Rather rigidly, rather unbalanced, but he was up, and he seemed pissed.  
"The...coward..." he was gasping out. "He...he ran..."  
"Nonesense, Ash." Ash turned, Enma had a thoughtful look on his face. Ash didn't seem like he was in the mood to deal with it, and started going off on his boss.  
"Then what the hell do YOU call it, oh great Lord of the Spirit World?" his voice was a mixture of sarcasm and anger. Enma remained calm.  
"I don't know if you can see it or not, but Riku has reached his breaking point. I don't know if we won the fight, I don't know if we did anything. But that alliance is now dead. And I don't know what will become of him." Enma looked at the hole that Riku had run through, Ash did the same, and so did everyone. All of them knew that it was going to be interesting from here on out.

Riku walked along the valley, it was the middle of the night in this dimension, and he had made his way into a lush forest nested between the mountains. Looking into the distance, he could see a large lagoon. He walked to it, and stopped. Then, in his pocket, something began to vibrate. Riku pulled it out. It was his PDA communicator. Grudginly, he turned it on, and there, was a half destroyed, half pissed, Wayne.  
"What was that...?" Wayne inquired. Riku did nothing but stare him down with his now baby blue eyes. "What the FUCK was that, Riku? I'm getting sick and tired"  
"FUCK YOU, WILLIAMS!" Riku broke the communicator in half with his hands and tossed the pieces into the lagoon. As he watched them sink, he fell to his knees and started to sob. "Why..." he whispered slowly. "Why...why...why..." He looked up at the full moon, tears running down his cheeks. Everything went white, and then, images began to flash through Riku's mind.

An image of a baby, a small baby, being ripped from his mothers arms as lights of every color flashed around him. When the lights were gone, all the baby saw was darkness, and he started to cry.

Riku continued to sob, as he shut his eyes, and placed his head upon the ground, as more images came to him.

Another image. This time, of a young boy, no older than 8 years by his looks. He had short dark hair, and red eyes. He lay, face in the ground, under a waterbridge, bloody and dirty. Suddenly, a man, covered in shadow, walked up and lifted the limp body up. Walking under the bridge, he seemd to vanish.

The sounds of a young boy screaming, trying to cry, before silence yet again.

Now, a boy, with very messy black hair, a young teenager, a young, yet tall and muscular one. He stood there, bruised, as two people walked up to him. The boy whom the two approached seemed scared of their presence, though he did his best not to show it. The tall man who was still hidden in shadow spoke.  
"Wayne," he addressed the boy beside him. "Teach Mister Yukimora that insolence will NOT be tolerated, no matter how brutal your lesson is..." The younger boy, identified as Wayne, laughed.  
"Yes sir." he said, a smirk spreading across his face. A door was heard shutting, and then, cries of pain.

All was black for a moment, then, a very recent happening. A tall man, shoulder length black hair, stood beside Wayne Williams.

"Riku, are you ready?" Wayne asked. Riku simply nodded. "Then you know what needs to be done." Riku nodded again, and stepped out.

Now, the image of when he first fought Ash leaped into his mind.

He laughed. "Now, it's time for you to fall!" Riku shifted behind Ash, and clenched his right hand into a fist. Before Ash could strike Riku with the Rift Sword, Riku came around full force, and landed a direct hit to a nerve on the side of Ash's knee. Ash screamed loudly and fell to the ground, clenching his left knee in pain. Riku held his katana to Ash's throat, forcing Ash to stare him down. For the first time in a long time, Ash had been rendered defenseless. If Riku had wanted to strike Ash down right there, there would not have been a thing anyone could do about it.  
"I could destroy you now, but as I promised Wayne, I would give him the pleasure." Riku sheathed his sword, but gave Ash a sharp kick in the back, which sent him rolling a few feet. He then walked over to Ash and kneeled down. "Now listen to me. I went very easy on you this time. You are pathetic."

The last Image that came to Riku's mind, was that of his mother, Nyamo Kurosawa. It was nothing more than an Image, before the image of her, much to his disappointment, faded away.

"MOTHER!"

Riku sat up very abruptly. He was hot, and sweaty, and panting.  
"Wha...wha..." he tried to speak. Looking aroud, he was still by the lagoon, yet now, it was morning. Taking a few minutes, the young man calmed himself, before standing up, a determined look on his face. "I understand..." he trailed off, saying to nobody in particular. "But there is still one more thing." Riku nodded and walked off, back in the direction he thought he had come the night before, with a truly determined look on his face.

The gang had exited Demon's Door Cave, and were strewn about inside the entrance of Genkai's temple, recounting the events of the previous night. The question on everyone's collective mind, mostly, was "Did Wayne survive?". Well, everyone aside from Ash, who had been resting after his near-death encounter with Riku. Ash was wondering what exactly had happened. Very little of the night before had registered in his mind. His thought process was interrupted by Janine walking in. Ash looked away callously. Janine's betrayal was apparently one of the few things he could still remember.  
"You could at least TRY to speak." Janine said.  
"I have nothing to say to a traitor like you." Ash started. "Aside from 'Shouldn't you be trying to find Wayne'?"  
"Ash, I had no ch--" Janine started, but Ash's shouting cut her off.  
"DON'T GIVE ME THAT 'I HAD NO CHOICE' CRAP!" Ash shouted, alerting everyone inside that he was finally awake. "YOU COULDA HELPED ME OUT BUT YOU SIDED WITH HIM!"  
"Ash, he's my BROTHER! What did you want me to do?" Janine said, tears forming in her eyes. "Despite all that he's done, I still love him!"  
"Oh yeah? If you love him so damn much, why don't you follow HIM?" Ash shouted. "You're CERTAINLY not part of MY team!"  
Janine stood perfectly still, aside from her trembling lower lip and fists. She suddenly reared her right fist back and slammed it into Ash's face with extreme force. "Bastard..." she said, not even trying to hide the fact that she was crying. "I thought you'd understand since you only have your mom. Wayne's my only living relative..."  
"My mom isn't a psycho--"  
"I DON'T CARE! I THOUGHT YOU'D UNDERSTAND, BUT YOU'RE JUST LIKE THE REST OF THESE BASTARDS! WELL, FUCK YOU!" she screamed, storming out of the room. As she exited, Ash noticed Jenny and Enma standing there.  
"And what do you guys want?" he asked, obviously still pissed.  
"Break's over." Enma said, sounding pissed himself. "It's time to resume your hunt for Wayne."  
"What hunt? Wayne's more than likely dead! Did you miss the part where he had that hole in his chest?" Ash exclaimed.  
"Did YOU miss the part where he got up after that injury?" Enma exclaimed. "Besides, even if he is dead, we need to find his body and make sure it's completely destroyed!"  
"Why?" Ash asked, confused as to why they couldn't leave everything alone and finally return home.  
"Because if he is dead, there's still a chance that he could be revived. After all,YOU were." Enma explained.  
"..." Ash silently expressed his own concern. "You're right. Enma...I don't know if I can do this anymore. Riku mopped the floor with me."  
"But he's not working for Wayne anymore."  
"So what? We have no idea what he's after! For all we know, he could be just as bad as Wayne!" Ash shouted.  
"Was Wayne crying?" Enma asked, in a plain tone of voice. "Was Wayne merciful?" he continued.  
"Huh?" Ash asked, shocked. Apparently, Riku walking away was something he didn't remember. "Riku could have killed you, but he relented. Had he decided to kill you, there wouldn't have been a thing any of us could have done about it." Enma explained. "Besides, I DO know what he wants."  
"Oh yeah? Then what does he want?" Ash challenged his boss, but Jenny answered for him.  
"He wants to be with his family..."  
"More specifically, his mother, who's in Spirit World." Enma clarified.  
"So why doesn't he just off himself and go there?" Ash asked, forgetting the rules of death.  
"You know good and well that won't work. Besides, his mother isn't dead. You saved her from him and Wayne." Enma said.  
Ash's eyes widened tremendously. Enma went on to say, "His mother is Nyamo Kurosawa."  
For the second time that morning, Ash's shouting erupted throughout Genkai's temple.  
"WHAT?" he shouted, again, at the top of his lungs.  
"Don't shout like that, Ash." Enma instructed.  
"Sorry, but...Riku's really Nyamo's son?"  
"Yes. There are absolutely no doubts. Furthermore, he's half-Eltherian."  
"The news just keeps getting better and better." Ash said, rolling his eyes.  
"So, there's only one thing to do from here. Find Wayne. If he's alive, finish him off. If he's dead, destroy his body." Enma said.  
"Oh, and there is one more thing."  
"Yeah?" Ash asked.  
"Yusuke will be going along with you and Jenny."  
"Huh?" Ash said, not sure he'd heard correctly.  
"It would be nice to have the very person who trained you to go along with you, wouldn't it? Together with Jenny, the three of you couldn't possibly lose...again." Enma explained.  
"Indeed. Well, sure, why not? The three of us can kick Wayne's pansy ass, no problem." Ash said with a smirk.  
'I hope so...' Enma thought. 'I really do...'

Janine walked furiosly from the temple, tears running madly down her eyes, though she didn't seem to care.  
"I can't believe them." Janine huffed through her tears. "I thought of all people, they'd under-" She stopped when she looked up. Standing no more than five feet from her was Riku. A stern look on his face, and a broken look on hers, they stared each other down, before Janine asked the question that plagued her mind.  
"You may be here to really kill us all this time." She started, crying. "But before you do whatever it is you intend, please, tell me one thing. Did Wayne survive his injuries? Is my brother alive?" Riku sighed.  
"I do not know, Janine." He said calmly. Janine just drooped her head and continued to cry. "You'll hate me for it, but I honestly hope he's killed over. You can't under--"  
"Don't even try to tell me that I can't understand anything, you bastard." Janine barked scornfully at Riku. Riku remained calm and finished his sentence.  
"You cannot understand what he put me through throughout my life, and what I did for him in return for nothing but another order. Janine, I don't care what you think of me, but if Wayne is dead, it will be the best news of my life." Riku paused. Janine was now walking again, but she was stomping, and angry, and crying. She walked by him, and muttered but one thing.  
"You are right, I hate you." she moped and cried and continued to walk. After she had gone a few feet, Riku spoke again.  
"I know exactly how you feel." he said without looking at her.  
"No, you don't. Don't mock me by saying that." Janine had stopped, but she did not look at Riku. There was silence.  
"My mother, my only living family member in any dimension, is now residing in Spirit World, under the watchful eye there. She is Minamo Kurosawa, and I know that little girl you have been training so hard calls her Nyamo." Riku said, he himself had now formed a small tear in his eye, which he wiped away. "You don't know what I would give, to just be able to walk up to her, and have her accept me." There was more silence. "That's all I have to say, Janine. I just wanted you to know that you are not alone when it comes to such matters."  
"Hmph." was all Janine mustered before she dashed off at full speed. Riku just sighed and continued to walk towards the temple. He sighed and spoke to himself as he treaded the grass of the valley.  
"This is what I must do, at least, I feel. This is how I will come clean. This is how I will help achieve what I know I want." Then, Riku abruptly stopped about 50 feet from the temple. He closed his eyes, feeling. A minute or so later, he opened them, and there was an unsure look in his eyes. "No, not yet...this is not the time." Riku turned and began to walk, then something caught out of the corner of his eye. The temple door opened, and then closed again. Riku stood there, his back turned to the temple, his energy cloaked, so as to not give away his identity. He heard footsteps behind him.

Osaka had been sent to get some spring water from a waterfall deep in the Demon's Door Cave as part of her training. She noticed a man standing with his back to the temple. A white cloak cut off anything distinguishing, and Osaka only guessed he was male. She walked up and tapped him on the shoulder, sensing no Spirit Energy from him.  
"Excuse me, Mister." she said politely. "Are ya lost?" The man said nothing for a moment.  
"I am almost certain that you will not be happy to see me." the man whispered to hide his voice.  
"I can help ya if you're lost, ya know." Osaka smiled, the mad just sighed.  
"I'm sorry," he continued to whisper. "But only I can help myself." With that, the man jogged off, and Osaka just stared, wonderingly, as the man became nothing more than a speck on the horizon. Then he was gone.

"Well, at any rate, it IS time for you to get moving, Ash." Enma said. "The next rift, as a matter of fact, is just outside this temple." Enma started to walk out the door, only turning his head back when his hand was holding the temple door wide open. "Come along, you three, we don't have time to waste." Ash, Jenny, and Yusuke nodded. The three of them immediatly rushed out, except for Yusuke, who took a moment to say goodbye to his friends. Then, they were out. When they came out, Enma was walking up to Osaka. He tapped her on the shoulder lightly, causing her to jump. Apparently he had startled her.  
"Sorry, Lord Enma." She said and bowed.  
"Don't be sorry, Ayumu, but I believe Genkai sent you to do something. I think you had better get to it." Enma smiled, causing Osaka to bow again, and run off into the mountains. Enma then beckoned for the gang to come over, which they did. "Right where she was standing." he said, taking a few steps back.  
"So, this will take us where, Enma?" Jenny ashed as Ash stepped foreward.  
"A dimension called Bikini Bottom." Enma explained. "Now Ash, if you'll-" He stopped, as there was a rift open before him already.  
"Two steps ahead of you, Boss." Ash smirked. Enma walked up to him and patted him on the shouled.  
"I see that you are, Ash. So go ahead and take the third step." Enma smiled as he shoved Ash through the rift. Jenny, Yusuke, and Enma were all laughing.  
"Good one, Enma." Yusuke gave him the thumbs up.  
"Heh, I haven't felt that good in awhile." Enma gave a big smile. "Now, hurry up you two, the rift is about to close." Jenny and Yusuke gave their boss one last nod, before literally leaping into the rift, which closed a split second behind them. Enma sighed and walked back into the Temple. Somehow, someway, he had a new found faith in Ash Ketchum.

Authors Note: Caleb here, man, talk about action. Anyway, did Enma say Bikini Bottom? I don't have to tell you to stay tuned, do I:P


	19. Chapter 19

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 19 

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon and Caleb McGlone, with help from Rob Volzke. 

Disclaimer. First episode. Read. Yar!

Wayne Williams slowly opened his eyes, but could see nothing. The vast darkness, nothing but the color black filled his vision, and surrounded him. A slow, painful moan escaped his lips as he slowly reached his hand down, feeling around in the dark, until his fingers came into contact with what he thought was his chest. He could still see nothing, but he knew the feel of pierced skin, and blood, and that was what he was feeling at that moment. He groaned and lay his head back, which hit something that felt to be soft, yet rigid. Still being unable to see, thought after thought began to race through his mind.  
'Where am I? Who am I? I'm Wayne. But where am I? Am I dead? Am I alive? Is this Heaven, Hell? How did this happen? Who...' The thoughts racing through his mind. Then, all the questions fell back, as one apparant thought came to him.  
"Janine..." Wayne whispered aloud, his voice echoing in the blackness, as he began to think again. 'Janine...' he thought in his mind. 'Janine, why did I...I remember, and...why...who...Am I evil? Janine...' Though it could not be seen, Wayne was overcome, and he could feel the tears begin to streak down his face, as he slipped back and lost consciousness.

Wayne bolted up, sweating, panting, and wet. Wayne was completely wet, although he did not notice. After a few seconds of sitting there, he began to take his hands and touch himself. He ran his right hand along his forehead, his left one on his back. He just seemed to be feeling, to see if it was real.  
"I...I am alive..." he said slowly. Then he looked down, and noticed that his entire body was soaked. "Wet..?" After that, ho noticed that when he moved, bubbles were created from around him. Looking even move confused, Wayne stood up, then fell over, as he had bumped his head on something. "What the..." Wayne held his head and stood up more carefully. What he had bumped his head on had appeared to be a large bamboo stick, with a life preserver hanging on it. "Eh...?" Wayne's vision came to, and this strange object appeared to be a sign. written on the Life preserver, in red letters, Wayne could see a statement that read 'Welcome to Bikini Bottom.' "Bikini Bottom..." Wayne read it to himself, confused. Then, he seemed more alert. He looked up, and what Wayne thought appeared to be true, as he could see the sun, very far off in the distance, distorted by wavy lines.  
It all made sense now. The bubbles, the soft ground, the depth. "I'm at the bottom of the fucking ocean..." Wayne said, a little bit of panic in his eyes as a foghorn sounded, muting out his use of the word 'fuck'. "And yet..." He reached his hand up and touched his Adams Apple. "I'm breathing." Silence, then Wayne just fell backwards onto the ground, and sighed to himself. "What have I gotten myself into now...?"

Back at the Ketchum residence, Misty sat down on Ash's bed, and Delia walked in, noticing that the former's smile was a sad one.  
"You really miss him, don't you?" Delia asked. Misty nodded.  
"I just want to keep his room clean for when he gets home from his mission." Misty explained.  
"If there's one thing this family know how to do right, it's defending itself. This includes Ash. He's going to be just fine. When it comes to fighting, Ash is just like his father."  
"Mrs.Ketchum, I don't think you ever told us about Ash's dad..."  
"Well...uh...ohmygodlookatthetime!" Delia said, running out of the room at breakneck speed.  
"That's odd." Misty noted. "I was just asking about Ash's father--" she was cut off by Delia singing very loudly and unintelligibly.

Ash, Jenny, and Yusuke fell out of the rift, and immediately, Jenny began shaking furiously, as smoke leaked out of her head.  
"Jenny!" Ash and Yusuke said together.  
"Why yes, Aunt Jemima." Jenny said, a wavy smile forming on her face as her eyes narrowed. "I would love more of your delicious homemade syrup over every morsel of pancake left on my steaming breakfast plate."  
"She's officially lost it." Yusuke said, slowly realizing that bubbles appeared every time he made a movement of any kind.  
"Do you notice that bubbles are appearing every time we're moving in ANY way?" Ash asked, his eyes widening.  
"I was too busy noticing that every time I breathe, I start choking." Yusuke remarked. Suddenly, they realized that they were underwater.  
"OH SHIT!" they both shouted, or at least 'OH' came out. The other word was muted by the sound of a foghorn. The two Spirit Detectives grabbed Jenny and swam upwards onto the nearest landmass, which was actually just a small island that looked like some sort of cheesy television prop. As they exited, they were freaked to find that they were attached to sticks and looked like miniature clay dolls of themselves. Ash's eyes narrowed in awkwardness.  
"That stick'd better not be where I think it is." Ash said.  
"I'm pretty sure it is." Yusuke said, his eyes contorted to a look of extreme discomfort.  
"Yeah, that's what I thought. Hey, I think it's in Jenny as well." Ash said. Jenny still had the look of ecstacy on her face.  
"I think she likes having a stick in her ass." Yusuke said, except 'ass' was muted by a horn honking loudly. Suddenly, Jenny's foot slammed into Yusuke's groin, causing him to let out a tiny squeak. What actually happened, though, was that Jenny's clay doll self bumped into Yusuke's, making a kicking sound. Ash just stated the obvious, "Looks like Jenny's okay now."  
"Gee...ya think?" Yusuke squeaked out.  
"Sorry, didn't mean to kick you THAT hard. I must still be recovering from coming in contact with so much water." Jenny explained.  
"Right, gotcha...wait. You're not waterproof?" Yusuke asked, shocked at this revelation.  
"No." Jenny said, dejectedly. "Mom never made me waterproof."  
"Oh." Ash said.  
"Who are you guys?" came a squeaky voice from offscreen. Everybody looked, and saw that the voice was coming from a sponge. A yellow sponge with a stick shoved up the general area where his ass should be. The sponge sort of walked over to them. "I've never seen you up here before. This is dry land."  
"No shit." Ash said, once again, his swearing being sounded out by a large blowhorn.  
"It's a long story, for those two." Yusuke said, pointing at Ash and Jenny. Jenny sighed.  
"Here, I'll explain." Jenny went on to explain how their adventure had started and where it had gone. From Tremorton, to Alternate Tokyo, to Mushiyori City, and everything in between, to here where they were. The sponge just stood there.  
"Speaking of which," Ash said. "Where exactly ARE we?"  
"Well, like I said. You're on dry land." Ash rolled his eyes, trying to keep his cool. The sponge kept talking. "Well, I gotta go. Have fun on dry land friends." the sponge waved and walked off into the water. "Hey...wait a second..." Yusuke said, his eyes narrowing comically.  
"A talking sponge...now I've seen everything...are you sure I'm not--" Ash started to say, but was cut off by Jenny.  
"No, you're not on crack. You're never on crack, and Enma help me, if you ever DO get addicted to crack, I'LL PUT MY FOOT IN YOUR ASS!" Jenny shouted, 'ass' being muted by a loud steamboat whistle.  
"Look, we gotta get down there and find Bikini Bottom so we can kill Wayne and/or destroy his body." Ash explained. "If only we had some sort of wetsuit..."  
"There are these pickle jars." Yusuke said.  
"Pickle jars...there's no way that could work." Ash said, his eyes narrowing in irritation.  
"Hey, if a talking sponge can walk up on dry land and not shrivel up, then we can go underwater with these on our heads!" Yusuke said.  
"Good point. I'm gonna throw logic out the window here and try your little idea." Ash said, shoving his head into the empty pickle jar. Yusuke followed suit. "Stay here." Ash told Jenny.  
"Not a problem." Jenny said, then dully added, "Not like I can do anything else anyway..."  
Ash and Yusuke then dove full-speed into the water. As they descended, Ash noticed that Yusuke was right, and that they could actually breathe underwater with the jars on their heads. Shrugging, they walked down and read the life preserver on the stick that said "Welcome to Bikini Bottom".  
"Well, guess we made it to Bikini Bottom." Yusuke remarked casually.  
"Guess so." Ash said in response.  
Suddenly, Ash spotted the sponge from before, except this time, it had legs, arms, a mouth with two front teeth on top, square-shaped pants, and blue eyes. He was smiling as he kept saying the same two words over again.  
"I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready..." he repeated, out loud, to himself. Ash's eyes widened in fury.  
"Look at him...in all his...sponginess." Ash said, as though he had some sort of problem with walking, talking sponges.  
"You have some sort of problem with walking, talking sponges?" Yusuke asked.  
"Only when they're NIGHTMARES!" Ash said, a look of suspicion crossing his face.  
"That's ridiculous." Yusuke said. "Aren't they black?"  
"It could be one...IN DISGUISE!" Ash said, pompously cupping his chin with his right hand, as though he knew that the sponge were a Nightmare all along.  
"As unlikely as that is, we might as well check it out..." Yusuke said.  
"As soon as we find Jenny a way of coming down here without shorting out." Ash added. The two were interrupted from further conversation by Ash's wrist communicator beeping.  
"Enma, Sir, may I help you?"  
"Talking sponges, Ash?" Enma said, a bit perplexed.  
"I'm as confused as you are, Enma." Yusuke sighed, "and a little disturbed."  
"It's a Nightmare in disguise, I'm sure of it!" Ash snapped back, "But we also have another problem."  
"Well, judging from that Pickle Jar on your head, I'd say you're underwater."  
"And Jenny can't come under with us! Can you find a wetsuit or something?"  
"Maybe...where are you?"  
"Bikini Bottom."  
"Hmm...let me check." Music began to play through Ash's communicator. a few minutes later, it stopped.  
"Aww, I was just getting into it!"  
"Quit your belly-achin' Ash, I found a wetsuit Jenny can use."  
"Really? Where?"  
"Sending the coordinates as we speak."

"According to the coordinates, we're really close to the wetsuit!" Ash said excitedly.  
"It's about time too!" Yusuke growled "We would've had it by now if you didn't feel the need to hide every time we saw some fish!"  
"B-but the fish! some of them had glasses, and shirts!" Ash squeaked "And some of them...even had PANTS!"  
"...Pants."  
"Couldn't you see them?"  
"...Let's just get this over with." Yusuke said, as he turned around, and walked smack dab into something plastic. "Hey, what the hell?" the sound of seagulls cawing covered up the word "hell" as they passed.  
"Wow, good thing that wasn't harder or else your pickle jar might've broke." Ash said, "What's a dome doing underwater anyway?"  
"How should I know? what, am I some sort of Beacon of Know-OH MY GOD, Ash, Look!" Yusuke said, pointing to a figure moving around in the dome.  
As Ash turned around, He saw the wetsuit in question...dropping to the ground.  
"Oh my god...IT'S A SQUIRREL!" Ash shouted "...AND IT HAS BOOBS!"  
Yusuke did a double take, and confirmed that, yes, this squirrel did in fact, have "boobs", as Ash had so informally put it.  
"A-HEM! Well Ash...since you were the one to point this out, you're the one who gets to go swipe the suit. Have fun!" Yusuke said, punting Ash in the direction of the Treedome's front door.  
"B-but..."  
"NO EXCUSES!"

Ash slowly opened the large metal door, trying not to make noise as the large doorknob creaked with each spin. "Easy...easy...got it!" he said as the door slowly swung open enough for Ash to slip in. "Yusuke, I'm in-what the?" he said "There's another door!" then what sounded like an alarm started going off.  
"Wh-what's going on?" Ash shouted as the water in the small chamber was draining. "Guess I won't need this pickle jar." he said, taking off said Jar. Once again, Ash was faced with a doorknob that seemed even louder and more stubborn then the last one. "...Screw it." he said, grabbing the doorknob and spinning it as fast as he could. Quickly closing the door behind him, Ash turned around and took a look around. There wasn't much, just a big tree, a birdbath and a giant running wheel.  
"I...don't see that wetsuit here. Must be in the tree."  
Ash slowly crept up to the large acorn tree in the middle of the dome...or at least, he would've, if his every step didn't sound like the screams of tortured souls deep within the twisted bowels of Hell's 9th level, also known as McDonald's. He crept up to the door of the tree, and turned the knob slowly, The sound it made was like fingernails scraping across a chalkboard. Still no reactions.  
"Oh lord, I thank thee..." Ash said as he slowly snuck in. He heard snoring coming from above. "The suit must be upstairs!" he shouted, then quickly covered his mouth. "Gotta be quieter..." Ash walked slowly towards what looked like a ladder, his every step across the creaking floorboards seemed louder and louder. 'Why is it that I'm being so loud when I'm trying to be so quiet?' Ash thought as he reached for the ladder when his communicator went off.  
"Ash! Where are you? I haven't heard from you in hours!" Jenny called out. Ash cringed at the volume in which she spoke. "Jenny! Can you keep it down? This isn't really the time to talk."  
"Why?"  
"...I'm in the middle of getting you a wetsuit." Ash said, trying to be as silent as possible.  
"...and just HOW are you getting it?"  
"I'm...going to borrow it." Ash didn't like where this was going.  
"...Ash, are you going to steal it?"  
"Uhh...no?"  
"...I CAN'T FGlass shattering BELIEVE THIS!" Jenny hollered at the top of her voice, and making Ash cringe at the same time. "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE A FMachine Gun fire HERO! NOT SOME LOW LIFE PIECE OF SRusty Chainsaw THIEF!" Ash quickly cut the transmission short, hoping that it didn't give him away. The sounding of snoring quickly settled Ash's nerves somewhat. Nervously clutching the ladder, he slowly climbed up, though he soon regretted this as he was making a very loud racket on his way up. Ash had barely spotted the wetsuit in a corner when his communicator beeped again.  
"Ash! Ash! Where are you at?"

"Ash! Ash! Where are you?" Yusuke hollered into his communicator "Yusuke, keep it down! My nerves are shot enough as it is!"  
"Sorry, but Jenny just contacted me and it sounds like Hell will be waiting for us."  
"...DUDE."  
"What? Is there something wrong?"  
"...THIS...SQUIRREL...HAS...BOOBS!"  
Yusuke slapped his forehead in disbelief. "Thank you for reminding me of that, Ash. Now hurry up! This is taking forever!"  
"Well Yusuke, at least this'll be done before Rob finishes writing it."  
"ASH! NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO BREAK THE FOURTH WALL!"  
"Fourth Wall? Where?" an unfamilar voice cried out from behind Yusuke.  
Yusuke turned around and saw a large pink starfish in floral print shorts panicking.  
"Nowhere! Now go away, this is important!"  
"Important? Like...2 for 1 Krabby Patty day down at the Krusty Krab?" the starfish asked.  
"...GO BE STUPID SOMEWHERE ELSE!" Yusuke snapped, confused and frustrated by the starfish, who took much offense at Yusuke's comment.  
"Well, excuuuuuuuuse me, Pompador Q. Puffypants!"  
"...WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME, FATAExplosion?"

Ash turned a ghostly shade of white at the sound of the scuffle ensuing on the other end of his communicator, as he quickly shut it off.  
"I need to stop answering this thing..." he said as he walked over to the wetsuit, hanging on the wall, "Now how am I going to get this out of here?...I could carry it out." he then thought about this, and looked at the hole in the floor for the ladder. There was no way he was going to carry both items under his arms and climb down there, and carrying each piece down would be too risky. "...I could wear it!" he said, but then he spotted something that would cause a problem outside the dome; there was a hole in the back of the suit big enough for a tail to go through.  
"Look at the size of that thing! there's no way I could find something to plug it!" Ash then looked around and spotted something lying on a nearby table. "A cork!...how...convienent." he said, swiping the nearby cork. "Ranger Ash says..." he said as he plugged the hole in the back of the suit, "...problem solved."  
Just then, someone walked right by Ash, without either of them noticing. Ash didn't realize it until he heard the sound of someone gulping down a glass of water.  
"Crap!"  
Ash quickly stuffed the helmet over his head when he saw the owner of the suit walk past him and climb back into her bed, not awakened enough to see him.  
"Too close!" he said, grabbing the corked suit and climbing down the ladder.  
He quickly tip-toed his way through the base of the oak tree and out into the dome, nervously shaking the entire time.  
"So...close!" Ash squeaked, unaware that he was making a racket by crushing acorns under his feet. He grabbed onto the dome's steel doorknob, unable to turn it.  
"Come...ergh...on!" he grunted, then he let go, trying to catch his breath. Then it occured to him.  
"...I'm turning it the wrong way. uh, whoops." correcting himself, He quickly opened the large door, grabbed his pickle jar, and stepped into the "Pressure Chamber". Within 5 minutes, the chamber was full, and the other door swung open easily.  
"Success!" Ash cried out, breaking into a full dash toward Yusuke, who had ripped off the starfish's arms. The starfish grew new ones, then swiped one from Yusuke, and they began dueling like Jedi.  
"The force is strong with this strange pink one..." Yusuke said.  
"Why are you wasting time, Yusuke? I have the wetsuit!" Ash said.  
"Oh, hey Sandy." the starfish said, dropping his torn-off arm and waving.  
"Sandy? Who's that?" Ash asked. "And who the hclip from Wacky Delly, where Sal Ami screams 'I HATE BOLOGNA!" are you?"  
"It's me, Patrick!" the starfish, apparently named Patrick, said. "Don't you recognize me?"  
"Uh...no. Haven't you noticed I'm a GUY?" Ash said.  
Patrick stood there for a second, his pupils widening, before running off, screaming at the top of his lungs.  
"SPONGEBOB! SANDY'S LOST HER MEMORY! AND SHE'S A GUY!"  
Yusuke and Ash stood there, mouths agape, before Yusuke spoke up.  
"Get the hI HATE BOLOGNA! outta here?"  
"Get the hI HATE BOLOGNA! outta here." Ash agreed.

Jenny's clay doll sat, the same smiley face sculpted into it adorning its face. Suddenly, Ash and Yusuke's clay dolls clumsily toddled out of the water, Ash's clay doll wearing a wetsuit.  
"Here's your wetsuit." Ash said, and magically, it fell off of him. Yusuke noticed the cork in it at last.  
"Is that a cork in the general area of the wearer's aHUGBEES!...?" Yusuke asked.  
"Yeah." Ash answered. "It's where her tail went."  
"Heh, you gave it a buttplug!" Yusuke said, before bursting into laughter.  
"Heh...yeah..." Ash said, chuckling a bit himself.  
"I'll only wear it if you promise to give it back." Jenny said, interrupting their laughter.  
"Huh?" Ash said, then continued "Well, yeah, I had every intention of giving it back, but we can't do it before kicking Wayne's aHUGBEES."  
"True..." Jenny said. "Alright. Thanks, Ash." she said, and magically, she had the wetsuit on.  
"We've wasted enough time! Let's go put our collective boot to Wayne's glute!" Ash shouted, as the three of them toddled into the ocean, to find Wayne in this strange dimension and hopefully lay him to rest once and for all...

Author's Note:Dustin here. FINALLY. It took the three of us forever to write this. I must say, I truly found Rob's section hilarious. I think all of you will as well. Stay tuned, as Episode 20 should be here soon!


	20. Chapter 20

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 20 

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke. 

Disclaimer, first episode, blah blah blah. EPISODE 20'D!

Enma sat at his desk, doing research on the location of Bikini Bottom's rift, as Botan came in with a pot of hot coffee.  
"The coffee you requested is done, sir." she said.  
"Thank you, Botan. You may be excused, now." Enma said, smiling.  
"Sir, I have to know...do you think Ash can find Wayne and successfully kill him?" Botan asked.  
"Definitely. Wayne's still weakened from their previous battle." Enma explained. "Assuming, of course, he doesn't know any healing magic"  
"Wouldn't his file indicate it if he did?" Ratty piped up, from out of nowhere.  
"Of course. I, er...I just haven't checked it yet." Enma said, a large sweatdrop appearing on the side of his head as he closed his eyes and chuckled nervously.  
"I figured you'd be lazy as hell about this, so I went ahead and pulled the file." Ratty said, handing Enma a file that read "Williams, Wayne Jonathan, Age:16" on the front.  
"His middle name is Jonathan?" Botan asked, a bit surprised at this revelation.  
"Yes." Enma answered nonchalantly, as he read through the file for anything remotely useful regarding their mutual enemy.  
"Six feet...a hundred and seventy-five pounds...birthmark locatio--oh my." he stopped, then chuckled a bit.  
"What is it, Lord Enma?" Botan asked, before Enma broke into riotous laughter as he turned the file around for them to see exactly why he was laughing. There was a photo of Wayne's birthmark and its location: right above the crack of his rump. Botan covered her eyes with a shriek, and Ratty ran around suddenly, screaming "MY BRAIN IS ON FIRE!"  
"Okay, enough laughter." Enma said.  
"Who's laughing!" Botan and Ratty shouted in unison.  
"You are, if you want to keep your cushy office jobs here..." Enma said, his eyes narrowing comically. Suddenly, Ratty and Botan exploded into laughter, laughing until their faces turned red, and Enma held up a hand for them to stop.  
"Good job." he applauded. "Now let's see...magical knowledge, here we are. Hmm...no, he has no personal knowledge of the healing arts, just some black magic here and there. Mostly lightning mag--oh SHIT." Enma said, realizing what would happen if Wayne used his magic in Bikini Bottom.  
"Shall I contact Ash for you, sir?" Botan asked.  
"Please do. In the meantime, we can only hope Wayne decided not to stick around..." Enma said, a grave expression on his face.

"Welcome to Bikini Bottom." Jenny said, repeating the words on the sign in front of the three heroes.  
"Now to find that yellow Nightmare." Ash said.  
"And I've got a few choice words for that pink tub of lard from before." Yusuke said, before continuing. "Such as...'you', and 'pink', and...'tub of lard"  
"Yeah, yeah...but I really want to rip out that Nightmare's teeth." Ash said, before the sound of metal clanging against metal was heard, and they turned to see that Jenny had worked her right arm free of the sleeve it was in, and had worked it into the head section, smacking her head with it.  
"Ash, it's a sponge!" she said, angrily.  
"I beg to differ, little Miss Metal Panties..." Ash started to say, but got cut off by his communicator beeping. "DHUGBEES! IT!" he shouted. "Why the fthe sound of bubble wrap popping en masse does this thing always go off"  
He then switched on the wrist communicator, to see Enma's face pop up.  
"A--" Enma started, but Ash immediately cut him off.  
"Wait, don't say anything! From the tiny bit you got out, I can tell you have bad news!" Ash said. "I don't like bad news, okay"  
"Like it or not, you'll have to hear it." Enma said. "Wayne knows lightning magic"  
"And that's useful HOW, again?" Ash asked.  
"Ash where do you think you are!" Enma shouted. "The bottom of the ocean"  
"Exactly! So is Wayne!" Ash said, and Enma's eyes widened for a second before he slapped himself.  
"Stupid, stupid Enma!" he said to himself. "Why didn't I think of that!" he then looked around for a few minutes, before grinning slyly and saying "I mean, RATTY! Why didn't YOU think of that"  
"What the hHUGBEES! are you talking about! This was your dumbaa clip from Homestar Runner's website, where Strong Bad shouts 'TWO'D!' screwup!" Ratty growled.  
"You go, Ratty!" Ash cheered on his assistant.  
"Look, I also wanted to inform you of something you can use against Wayne." Enma said, quickly changing the subject, then he motioned for Ash to put his ear to the receiver, which Ash reluctantly did, and he whispered the tiny bit of incriminating information he'd discovered about Wayne into Ash's ear, causing him to start roaring with laughter.  
"NO FREAKING WAY! YOU'RE KIDDING!" Ash said, between laughing fits.  
"Not a bit." Enma said. "That's where it is"  
"That's the funniest thing I've heard since this hI HATE BOLOGNA!ish trip started!" Ash said, his laughter dying down, after what seemed like forever to Yusuke and Jenny, who were clueless as to what he was laughing over in the first place.  
"I'll let you three go so you can find Wayne. Good luck, and give 'im trouble." Enma said, disappearing from view as Ash's communicator shut off.  
"Let's go, guys." Ash said, before bursting into laughter again as they started walking into Bikini Bottom.  
"I'd like to know why he's laughing." Jenny said.  
"Ditto." came Yusuke's reply.  
Soon enough, Ash spotted that oh-so-evil yellow "Nightmare" that he hated with such a passion. He was inside of a building with a large sign outside of it reading "Krusty Krab.  
"It's HIM..." Ash growled.  
"Just let him go, Ash...we need to find Wayne." Jenny said. "THEN we can blow the little yellow 'Nightmare' to Hugbees." Yusuke said, actually saying the word 'Hugbees' himself, and making quotation marks with his index and middle fingers as he said the word 'Nightmare'. "Yeah, you're right...but look at him, in all his...SQUARENESS..." Ash said, his eyebrows arching as he said that last word.  
"Ugh..."Jenny muttered, her eyes narrowing in frustration.  
Yusuke then noticed that the starfish from before, Patrick, was talking to Ash's new enemy, he distinctly heard Patrick call the yellow sponge "Spongebob.  
"That's not a Nightmare. Nightmares don't have names, do they?" Yusuke asked.  
"I guess not..." Ash said, eyes widening in surprise at Yusuke's observation. "Nightmare or not, this Spongebob must fall"  
"WILL YOU SHUT UP ABOUT THAT POOR LITTLE SPONGE!" Jenny shouted. "WE'RE NOT HERE TO KILL HIM! WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE FINISHING WAYNE OFF"  
"Fine! You don't have to bite my head off! Jeez!" Ash said.  
"Wait...there's a human in that building." Yusuke said, pointing to where he saw said human. Ash instantly recognized said human, and smirked.  
"Looks like my suspicion was right! Following that sponge led us right to Wayne!" Ash said, as he started to dash toward the Krusty Krab.  
"Somehow I don't think that sponge has anything to do with Wayne, but whatever..." Jenny said, shrugging, then she raced of as well.  
"'Home of the Krabby Patty'." Yusuke read the sign. "That doesn't sound half bad." he said, licking his lips. "I haven't eaten since Ash's last training session"  
He then joined his partners, running toward the Krusty Krab.

Ash burst through the window of the Krusty Krab, all dramatic-like. Jenny, with a bored expression, simply opened the front door.  
"Wayne!" Ash shouted. "I knew you were still alive"  
"Actually, you're the one who said he was probably dead." Jenny stated bluntly.  
"That's beside the point!" Ash shouted, trying to keep the drama of his entrance from dying due to Jenny's blunt statement.  
Slowly, Wayne's head turned, and what Ash and Jenny saw shocked the bejeezus out of both of them. Wayne was crying. What he said next shocked them even more.  
"...Help me..." came his voice, cracking as he spoke.  
"...What the fMachine gun fire!" Ash said.  
"It's gotta be a trick, Ash..." Jenny warned. All eyes were now on them, aside from those of Yusuke, who had ordered a Krabby Patty and had began eating it.  
"Mmm, this thing kicks aHUGBEES!" Yusuke exclaimed happily.  
"...He won't let go of me..." Wayne continued.  
Ash looked around for someone who might be holding on to Wayne, but saw nobody.  
"Uh...who--" Ash started to say, before Wayne spoke up again.  
"You have to kill me. Kill me before..." he stopped, then let out a scream as he shut his eyes. When his eyes re-opened, they were the same scary amber color they were when Ash fought him a few hours back, in the Demon's Door Cave. He then grinned evilly at Ash.  
"Look what the catfish dragged in." Wayne said.  
Suddenly, a large catfish, with arms and legs, and a tattoo on his right arm, turned around from the seat behind where Wayne was sitting. It spoke in an Australian accent.  
"Oi, don't be makin' assumptions, mate." it said angrily.  
Wayne, ignoring him, simply said "So, Enma sent his little cleanup crew to finish what it started!", as his expression became gravely serious.  
"..." Ash looked down, thinking about what had just happened with Wayne. For some reason, it seemed...familiar.  
"Cassidy." he suddenly spoke up.  
"Who?" Jenny asked, perplexed.  
"What about her?" Wayne asked.  
"What just happened reminded me of her. How she was before Giovanni's control was broken. Those little phases where she had been free." Ash explained. Jenny had no idea what Ash was talking about, and Yusuke felt like he'd died and gone to Heaven, since he was still enjoying his Krabby Patty.  
"I don't know what you're talking about." Wayne said. He simply looked around him, before spotting Spongebob and Patrick, blowing bubbles.  
"I have a question for you, Ketchum." Wayne said, his grin reappearing, before he disappeared, and reapeared next to the two Bikini Bottom dwellers. "How long do you suppose it'll take for me to slice and dice these two!" he shouted out, before shoving his sword into Spongebob's back.  
"NO!" Jenny shouted, but got another shock when Spongebob simply started laughing.  
"That tickles!" Spongebob said, giggling.  
"Let's see how much splitting you in half will tickle!" Wayne shouted, raising his sword and doing just what he had announced moments before. However, a look of shock appeared on Wayne's face as Spongebob simply came back together.  
"Me next, me next!" Patrick shouted happily.  
"Grrr...DIE!" Wayne shouted, chopping off the 'cap' of Patrick's head. He growled and got comically narrow eyes when said cap simply grew back. He shouted each word of his next question as he cut at the two.  
"WHY...WON'T...YOU...DIE!" Wayne shouted, at the top of his lungs.  
"Have you been under a rock?" Patrick asked.  
"No. Have you?" Wayne countered.  
"MAYBE." Patrick said, looking offended.  
"We're cartoons!" Spongebob said. "No one actually DIES in Bikini Bottom"  
"Yeah!" Patrick added.  
Wayne looked around, at all the residents of Bikini Bottom, who were inside of the Krusty Krab, before finally shouting "GOD DA heavenly voice says 'PLASTIC!' IT ALL!" and running into the kitchen.  
"Wow. I guess I had you figured wrong, little yellow sponge dude." Ash said. "Anyone who can piss Wayne off like that deserves praise in my book"  
Everyone immediately dropped whatever they were doing. Ash tried to move toward the kitchen, but he found that he was immobilized.  
"What...no edit?" Ash asked. Suddenly , the 'screen' became nothing but some sort of cheesy Hawaiian wallpaper-y background, with three words on it, as a voice sporting a cheesy French accent spoke the three words.  
"Several minutes later"  
The 'screen' returned to Ash and friends, and suddenly, a record player with an extremely large horn appeared next to Ash, and the horn blared mightily, causing Ash's hair to stand straight up. Suddenly, his communicator started beeping. Enma automatically began the transmission between the two of them.  
"Great work, Detective." Enma said, sarcastically.  
"Shut it." Ash countered.  
"Wayne's escaped to a place called Hinata Hot Springs." Enma explained. "Unfortunately, your little stunt gave the rift enough time to close. it won't be opening again for another year"  
"A YEAR!" Ash shouted. "So let me get this straight...we can't follow him"  
"There's still a way. I'm going to use all my power to bring you, Jenny, and Yusuke to Spirit World." Enma explained.  
"Like when you made the rift from the Azu dimension?" Ash asked.  
"Yes. Fortunately, though, this time isn't as urgent." Enma answered.  
"What do we do from there?" Jenny asked. "You'll be too worn out to create another rift to this Hinata Hot Springs place"  
"I won't need to. It's time for the three of you to learn how Riku Kurosawa was able to jump through rifts without the sword or bracelet." Enma said. Just then, a portal opened right in front of Ash. "That's our cue. Come on, Yusuke!" Ash called out.  
"Hold on a sec...gotta finish my patty." Yusuke said, clearing his throat while adding "My tenth patty"  
"No time, let's go!" Jenny added.  
"But...my patty..." Yusuke said, sniffling a bit.  
"Just take it with you." Ash said, rolling his eyes.  
"Oh yeah." Yusuke said, shrugging, then he ran over to Ash and Jenny, and the three jumped into the rift.  
"Farewell, land-dweller friends!" Spongebob shouted into the rift.  
"Who were those guys?" Patrick asked, having a clueless expression on his face.  
"Eh, I dunno." Spongebob answered.  
"WHICH ONE OF Y'ALL VARMINTS TOOK MY WETSUIT!" came a thunderous and angry female voice, with a Southern accent.

Ash, Yusuke, and Jenny landed in Enma's office, which looked unusually messy.  
"What the hell happened here?" Ash asked, then added "Boy, I sure did miss the simple pleasures of swearing without censorship!" with a smile on his face.  
"This has never happened in the history of my reign as lord of the Spirit World!" Enma shouted, from somewhere beneath a messy stack of files. "We can't find anything on this girl you said you saw in your dreams"  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Yusuke said. "Does Misty know about this?" he asked, before getting flipped off by Ash.  
"Go to hell, Yusuke." Ash countered. "I started having these weird dreams before this whole thing started. I was fighting a shadow version of myself, along with this guy and girl. Turns out the guy really exists. He actually lives in the place where the Spirit Stone is. I'm assuming this girl exists as well." he explained.  
"What was that girl's name again, Ash?" Enma asked.  
"If I recall correctly, I called her Jazz." Ash said, thinking for a second.  
"More than likely, that isn't her real name." Enma said.  
"Look, I'm sure we'd like to talk about chicks we've dreamed about..." Yusuke said, "But while we're doing this, that asshole Wayne's getting closer to the Spirit Stone. You said you were gonna tell us how that Riku kid was travelling the dimensions he's been to"  
"That's right. It's time to introduce you to the legendary Central Dimension." Enma said.  
"Central Dimension?" Ash asked, bewildered.  
"Yes. In the dimensional universe, regularly, all the rifts only open on their own once, for seven days. This happens every one thousand years. One of the two authority figures above me, the now-deceased Timelord, King Sardius, found rifts that were weak enough for anything to pass through. His people, the Kamoa, or the Time Guardians, erected a dimensional center for those who stumbled into these rifts. This happened about sixty-six years ago." Enma explained. "This area came to be known as the Central Dimension. For those who were unfortunate enough to wander into the rifts that were free-access, they would wind up at the Central Dimesnion. From there, they could access any other dimension in the dimensional universe, including this one"  
"You mean, using that Central Dimension thing...I could theoretically return home?" Ash asked.  
"Exactly. Coincidentally, it also leads to Amity Park." Enma said. "None of the doorways are marked, though, so where you'll end up is anyone's guess." "We need to find that door to Amity Park, then." Ash said.  
"Wrong. We need to find the door to Hinata Hot Springs." Enma explained.  
"Uh, hello? We get the Spirit Stone and we win!" Ash said.  
"Wrong." Enma said. "We get the Spirit Stone before beating Wayne, and we give him a chance to swipe it and gain ultimate power. Do not underestimate his cunning"  
"Speaking of, there's a question I wanted to ask you regarding Wayne." Ash said.  
"Shoot." Enma said.  
"When we found him, he was crying." Ash said. "It was like he was a completely different person. Is it possible he's just like Cassidy was?" he asked, and Enma sat there for a minute, before giving a deep sigh.  
"It's not just possible, that's exactly what's going on." Enma explained. "Wayne's a mindless puppet, following the orders of whoever's controlling him"  
Ash looked like the world had just ended. He could do nothing but stare on in horror...the man he hated with such a passion, Wayne, was just another victim. He suddenly remembered what Riku had said back in Retroville: that the war would not end when Wayne fell. It suddenly made sense to him. Wayne was every bit as much a victim as anyone he'd killed.  
"I was going to tell you..." Enma started, but was cut off by a furious Ash.  
"When! After we killed him!" Ash shouted. "Yes. Since telling you has more than likely made you decide to not kill him." Enma said, as he finally emerged from underneath a stack of files piled over his desk.  
"What are you talking about!" Ash asked. "I'm still going to stop him. Kill him, maybe you're right about that. If there's a way I can save him without killing him, I'm going to find it, despite the fact that he begged us to end his life"  
"Ash..." Enma started to say something afterwards, but decided against it. "But if it's unavoidable, then I'll still do it." Ash said slowly. "i'm just pissed off that you thought I couldn't handle the truth"  
"All right." Enma said, smiling. "Break time is officially over, then"  
"Excellent timing." Yusuke spoke up. "Just finished my Krabby Patty"  
"So..." Jenny spoke up, "How do we get to this Central Dimension"  
"There's a secret door hidden along the wall behind my desk here. Inside is the rift leading to the Central Dimension." Enma said, touching the innocent-looking snow globe on his desk, which caused said secret door to slide open vertically.  
"Who woulda guessed?" Ash asked, rubbing the back of his head. "Come on, let's go!" he ordered, as he, Jenny, and Yusuke charged into the secret room, there to enter the mysterious Central Dimension and gain universe-wide access to their destinies...

Author's note:Dustin here. Now that we've finished 20 episodes, we're only 4 away from Season 2, in which...well, you'll just have to see, now won't you? Peace out, yo.


	21. Chapter 21

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 21 

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke. 

Disclaimer, first episode, blah blah blah. EPISODE 21'D!

The shadowy figure of Wayne Williams sat at a Kotasu, in the middle of what looked like an old Japanese apartment room. The walls were wooden, there were sliding doors with scrrens that one could not see through, and no locks, which stuck to the traditional Japanese way. All around Wayne, there were bookshelves, full of books, and stacks of papers, some jutting out of books here and there. A simple bed sat in the corner, and a desk with pencils, paper, and other educational utensils messily scattered sat at the opposite side of the room.  
Wayne wore a straight expression on his face as he stared into the eyes of a yong boy, who sat directly across from him at the heated table. The boy appeared to be in his early twenties, and had short brown hair with glasses. He was fairly skinny, and Wayne guessed that the boy hadn't done much physical work in his life, though he did have somewhat of a tan. It was also the young man who spoke first.  
"Now then, Mr. Williams..." The young man spoke. His voice matching his age, but a little high.  
"Call me Wayne, Keitaro." Wayne said, acting as though he were trying to be generous and informal. "We both know each other's names, why not use them?" The young man, whom Wayne refferred to as Keitaro, responded as though that did not matter.  
"Okay then, WAYNE," Keitaro put sarcastic emphasis on his name. Wayne took no notice. "My sister, Kanako has been missing for months now. Then you come to the door of the Hinata Apartments that I own, and say you have information for me." Keitaro slammed his fist on the table hard, obviously growing impatient. "So tell me what I want to know." Wayne just sighed and kept his cool, collected expression about him.  
"Very well, I understand, and apologize for setting off your temper. Please, Keitaro, bear with me. I bring the sad news to you. Kanako Urashima is no longer with us. She is dead." Keitaro's jaw dropped, and he stood there, gaping at Wayne, tears beginning to form in his eyes. There was a silence in the room at that time that seemed to last for hours. Then Keitaro, attempting not to believe, spoke in gasps.  
"Y...you're lying..." He gasped. Wayne shook his head.  
"I'm sorry, Keitaro, it is true, as sad as this is." Keitaro started to get up, but Wayne's voice stopped him. "Stay here, I'm not finished."  
"I want to be alone. You've told me everything I need to know."  
"I'm afraid I have not, Keitaro. You may be in danger too." Keitaro turned his head and stared at Wayne, tears streaming down his face.  
"Is that a threat?" Keitaro murmered as he sat down.  
"It's a promise," Wayne said calmly. "The man who murdered your sister is coming here." Keitaro seemed taken aback again, but Wayne did not allow him time to retalliate. "His name is Ash Ketchum," Wayne slowly slipped forward Ash's picture, which he had taken from the file aquired by Plasmius. As Keitaro looked the picture over, Wayne continued to talk. "He has two friends with him. A blue robot and a punk, black haired teenager about your age. They seek the destruction of your entire family."  
"Why...why would..." Wayne cut Keitaro off.  
"It's actually more than that, Keitaro. I didn't want to say it, but I feel you need to know the magnitude of the situation behind this man." Wayne leaned forward, a fake sympathetic look on his face, but Keitaro was believing every bit of it. "Ash Ketchum wants to destroy all worlds. Every dimension, everything. He's already destroyed one, and he's coming here next. He's a sadistic kid." Keitaro didn't know what to think. After what seemed like hours, he ripped the picture of Ash in half and stood up.  
"Wayne, I thank you very much for this information."  
"The pleasure is mine."  
"Do you know how long until he arrives?"  
"I imagine it won't be too long. He was on a crash course here, following me. For that I must take my leave." At that, Keitaro forcibly shook Wayne's hand, Wayne seeming to shrug it off.  
"Don't worry," Keitaro said, now seeming confident. "We'll defeat him and his entourage. We can do it, and we will get revenge for my sister. Leave here Wayne, we'll take care of him." Wayne simply nodded, and he suddenly disappeared. Though normally, that would seem odd, Keitaro had more important things on his mind. Confident, and bearing news, he ran down to the lobby, where the rest of the residents were waiting on him, wandering what that strange visitor was all about.

The large, blue wooden door opened slowly, making not a sound as eventually Ash, Jenny, and Yusuke had it fully opened and stepped inside the room. The contents were unlike anything Ash, Jenny, or Yusuke had ever seen. Doors. Doors, doors, and more doors. There were doors standing on top of one another, doors wedged so close together that if there was a wall behind the doors, you wouldn't have been able to tell just by walking into the room.  
The room itself was actually more like a long, slender, hallway. A hallway with nothing but doors. Ash took a deep breath and looked up. As far as he could tell, there was no ceiling. Just doors stacked on top of one another as far as the eye could see. Ash merely fell down on his butt, amazed at what he saw. Judging by the gapes on the faces of his comrades, they felt the same thing.  
"There's..." Ash paused. The reality of what he saw was just now hitting him. "There's...that many worlds out there?" Jenny and Yusuke couldn't bring words to their mouths, and after a long silence, Ash's wrist communicator came on, and the face of Enma was there nodding.  
"Amazing, isn't it, Ash?" Enma took notice at how all three of them were looking at this hallway. He merely chckled. "Yes, that is the initial reaction of those who see the Central Deminsion for the very first time. And before you ask, the doors are infinite." Ash had nearly gotten back up, but when he heard what Enma said, he fell right back down. Pulling his wrist up to his face so he could look his boss in the eyes.  
"Infinite?" Ash stammered. "As in...never-ending." Enma nodded.  
"Yes, Ash. There is literally no end to the worlds out there. Some die, new ones come. And these doors, though no longer manned as they once were, are still alive in a sense. You could spend ten billion lifetimes walking through door after door. You would never explore every world there is." Enma heaved a sigh. "Well then, does that answer your questions?" Ash had finally regained himself, as had Yusuke and Jenny. Ash looked to Enma and shook his head.  
"Just one more question, sir." Ash said calmly.  
"I'm all ears." Ash sighed loudly.  
"HOW THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO FIND HINATA HOT SPRINGS, ONE DIMENSION, OUT OF A NEVER ENDING AMOUNT OF DOORS? WELL, ENMA? HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO FIND IT?" Ash's voice echoed for a long time through the halls that Enma proclaimed to be forever. Everyone sort of jumped back, except for Enma, who figured something like that was coming. Enma seemed fairly angry.  
"You're going to search the doors until you find the one that leads to Hinata Hot Springs, of course." Enma said impatiently.  
"And how're we supposed to do that?" Ash retorted. Enma just shrugged.  
"You'll have to figure it out. Good luck." Enma smirked and with that his image was gone from Ash's wrist. Ash looked like he was about to kick in one of the doors.  
"That no good, dirty son of a..." Ash just sort of stood there, whispering profanities to his watch. Suddenly, Jenny perked up.  
"Ash!" Jenny said trying to get his attention.  
"WHAT?"  
"Look!" Jenny pointed to a door, the fifth one on the left from where they were standing. Ash and Yusuke both saw nothing.  
"What about it?" Yusuke said, confused. Jenny just sighed.  
"C'mere." She walked over to the door and beckoned for Ash and Yusuke to follow her, which they did. Jenny extended her metal arm to point at the side of the door. "Look closely here." Ash and Yusuke both smiled largely as they finally saw what she was intending for them to see.  
This door was not completely shut, and had been used recently.  
"You sure that it didn't just open by itself or something?" Ash questioned Jenny. "I mean, yeah, it seems like a lead, but--"  
"I'm sure, Ash." Jenny not letting him finish his sentence. "I've scanned as far as I can, and all these doors are shut perfectly, kept perfectly, and in exact allignment with one another. This one is not."  
"Meaning Wayne used this door to get to Hinata Hot Springs!" Yusuke concluded.  
"Exactly." Jenny smiled and nodded. Ash stepped forward.  
"Well, what are we waiting for?" he said, taking his hand and pushing the door fully open, revealing before them the usual swirling rift. "Let's go!" Ash took a huge leap and was soon falling fown the rift, Jenny and Yusuke falling shortly behind him. All three heard the door snap shut on its own, and Ash, only for a moment, wondered why the door did not shut itself when Wayne came through.

Keitaro Urashima was still in his room, the room where he had met Wayne earlier. At this moment, however, he was not conversing with the most evil of men, but searching. The young boy opened cabenets, slid open and closed shelves, checked under both his bed and Kotasu more times than one, and seemed to be picking his own room apart.  
"Gah, where is it?" Keitaro scratched the back of his head. He then looked down at his watch. "Bah, there's not enough time. I'll just have to think of another plan. Everyone is waiting for me downstairs." Keitaro jumped to his feet and ran out of the room, forgetting to shut the door behind him.

Wayne Williams sat on a giant hill overlooking the Hinata House. Behind him, in the background, there sat a large annex, which Wayne, who was wearing black at the time, had chosen to hide against. He was already cloaking his Spirit Energy, and had intended on cloaking his visibility as well. A large smirk crossed his face, as he held at his side, an ancient looking katana that gave off an evil black aura.

Since his adventure had started, Ash Ketchum had become quite used to falling. So, as he, Jenny Wakeman, and Yusuke Urameshi fell through another Rift, Ash merely crossed his arms and closed his eyes, as if resting within the short time that they fell.  
THUD!  
Jenny and Yusuke has landed on their feet, but Ash, having actually fallen asleep during the fall, had landed flat on the top of his head. Cartoonish tears formed in his eyes as he fell over backwards, and Jenny and Yusuke were having a difficult time not laughing. After a few seconds, Ash stood up and brushed himself off. Clearing his throat, he spoke.  
"Ahem, yes...Well, is this it?" Ash said. The trio looked around. They stood at the edge of what appeared to be a forest. A forest on a hill, no less, as Yusuke pointed out. To their left, on another hill, Jenny pointed out a large black building with a clock face on the tower.  
"You don't suppose that we need to that way, do you?" Yusuke suggested. "That black building over there?" Jenny shook her head.  
"Nah, that would be unoccupied." Ash said, taking the words out of Jenny's mouth. Then he looked down the hill. Raising his arm, he pointed downward. "That's gotta be a more inhabited place." Jenny and Yusuke both looked. At the foot of the hill, there sat a large, pink roofed, wooden complex. On a sign that hung off the top of the roof, read in Japanese kanji, 'Hinata House All Girls Dormitory'  
"A dormitory, eh?" Jenny said thoughtfully as she read the sign.  
"Exactly." Ash said, proud of himself. "There'll have to be sombody down there. Hell, we might even be able to get a lead on Wayne."  
"Well, we won't know until we find out." Yusuke began to walk down the hill. "Let's go!"  
"Right behind you, Yusuke." Ash said, jogging after him.  
"Me too." Jenny walked at normal pace. Together, the three of them made their way down the hill, in the direction of the building known as the Hinata House.

All the residents of the Hinata House were standing together, ready by the front door. From left to right, they all lined up single file. The first one, a small, blue haired girl, looked timid and scared, carrying only a frying pan. Next in line, a tall, black haired woman wearing some old Japanese swordsman clothes. She had a katana sheathed at her side, and she looked very warrior-like, probably the one of the group with the most combat experience. Next to her, a smaller, dark-skinned girl. Definitely not Japanese, but definatly ready for combat, as she had a rocket launcher strapped to her shoulder, and a strange-looking gun in her hands. Another tall girl next in line, but this one looked half drunk, and her weapon, a broken sake bottle, reflected that. She seemed very floozily.  
Then, in the background, there sat a girl on a red couch. Her arms crossed over her chest, she looked away as Keitaro walked down the stairs. Keitaro looked at her and sighed.  
"Naru, why.." Keitaro started, but was cut off by the girl.  
"You think that some random guy we've never met will just come in and tell us everything that's going to happen? I'm sorry Keitaro, but I don't believe Kanako is dead and I don't believe two mass murderers and a robot are going to come and attempt to kill us. Pardon me for having a little common sense and reason, okay?" Naru stood up in a huff and walked upstairs. Keitaro motioned to stop her, but stopped himself midmotion and just sighed again. He turend around and walked over to the rest of his comrades, all of whom were staring. Why the rest of the residents were willing to believe him and Naru was not was indeed beyond Keitaro, but he knew there were more important people to deal with right now. He stood up straight and began to address the rest of the residents.  
"Well," Keitaro began. "Regardless of what Naru says, I believe Wayne. Something inside of me is just telling me something bad's happened to Kanako. You can call it stupid if you want, I believe that this Ash person is coming, and I need all the help I can get to fight him"  
"I...I'll fight for you, Sempai." the first girl in line spoke up. "You've done so much for me, and so has Kanako. If sombody did that to her, they can do the same to me, or try." The blue-haired girl sort of crouched behind her frying pan, and trembled slightly, but looked as though she was ready to go. Keitaro smiled.  
"Thank you, Shinobu." he addressed her, then looking to the next one in line, the tall, black-haired girl, whom simply shrugged.  
"I'm a warrior. I grew to consider Kanako a friend. But even if I did not, murder is the lowest a person can go. Kanako was not a fighter, therefore her murder was most likely not the result of a fight. If this 'Ash' fellow killed her, he will suffer death himself." Keitaro nodded.  
"I knew I could count on you, Motoko." Keitaro looked to the next girl in line, the small, foreign girl.  
"I just wanted to try out my new weapons!" she gave him a big smile, and Keitaro chuckled.  
"Whatever works for you, Su." The next girl to speak was the drunk.  
"Ah just wanna take a crack at some motherfuckers." she smiled.  
"Kitsune, are you sure you're sober enough to do this?" Keitaro looked a little concerned.  
"Nope." she sort of hiccuped as she responded. "But who gives a damn, hun?" Keitaro just sighed. Then, he perked his head up and looked back. He sort of jumped back, and then turned around and hushed the four girls, pointing in the direction of the sliding front door to the Hinata House. Everyone else had to suppress their gasps as they saw what Keitaro had both heard and saw.  
The shadow of three people, two short and one tall, could be seen outside the door.

Ash, Jenny, and Yusuke had finally made it to what appeared to be an entrance to this building. The three stopped right before the sliding door. Jenny reached out her arm to open the door, but Ash's voice stopped her.  
"Hold on." Ash said. Jenny stopped and looked at him.  
"What?" Jenny was confused. "We need to get in, right?"  
"Yeah, of course...but I don't think seeing a robot would be best for the people. This seems like a fairly normal town." Ash looked around. "Don't want to cause an uproar now do we?"

Keitaro was barely standing, as were the rest of the residents.  
"A...a robot?" Motoko silently stammered.  
"See!" Keitaro said louder than he wanted too. "I told you! I was right! Wayne was right!"  
"Well, what're we waiting for?" Su said. "Let's get em!" Keitaro nodded, and motioned for everybody to set up behind the door.  
"On my mark," he whispered. "Open the door, and charge head on. Do NOT give them any room to attack." Everyone else nodded. "One...two..."

Yusuke sort of perked up, then immediatly shushed the two.  
"What?" Ash said confused. Yusuke shushed him harder.  
"Listen." Yusuke whispered, and pointed at the door. Ash and Jenny stopped talking and listened. Sure enough, they could both hear something. The voice of a young male on the other side of the door.  
"...any room...ttack...one...two..." came the voice.

"THREE!" Keitrao quickly placed his hand on the handle and slid the door open.

"What do you suppose..." Ash said, but he was cut off.  
"THREE!" Suddenly, the sliding door slid wide open, and before Ash knew it, there were bodies bumping into bodies, and a large cloud of dust stirred up from the ground. When the dust cleared, it was a rather amusing sight to Ash, Jenny and Yusuke. Five people, one guy, four girls, lay there, piled on top of one another, as though they had tripped over one another as they exited the building. Jenny and Yusuke had stepped to one side, and Ash to the other. Ash couldn't help but laugh.  
"Umm..." he said as he stopped laughing, as the five people had gotten up and cleaned themselves off. They had just taken notice to Ash, Jenny, and Yusuke. "Excuse us. Sorry if we caused this, but we were wondering..." Ash stopped dead when he realized there was the blade of a katana at his throat. He looked to see that one of the people, a black haired woman, was holding it. She glared at him evilly.  
"Woah! Hold up here!" Jenny stepped foreward. "What the he-" Jenny was cut off when a short, tan girl jumped in front of her.  
"Take one more step lady, and I'll be using your parts in my next invention." the girl said. Jenny had no choice but to stop. She had no idea what those things were capable of. The only free person left, Yusuke, just sighed as though he was pissed off.  
"What the hell is with you two?" he said, taking a step forward. It was unclear at first if he was addressing Ash and Jenny or the two girls holding them at bay. "Can't you sense that there is no remote power at all coming from any of these- ARRGH!" Yusuke immediatly fell over, holding his crotch for dear life. A third girl, the drunk with the beer bottle, had just smashed said bottle over the young boy's groin.  
"Bastard." she said in a somewhat Osakan accent. That was apparently the last straw for Ash.  
"Okay, that's IT!"  
"Shut up, we want to hear nothing you have to say." the girl holding the katana to his throat threatened coldly.  
"No, I'm not." Ash felt like he would go off at any moment. "I want to know what the hell is going on with you people!"  
"We want to know the same thing, Ash Ketchum." the only man of the group stepped forward. Early twenties, brown hair. He somewhat reminded Ash of somebody, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.  
"So, you've heard of me?" Ash said scornfully. "So who are you to know of me, though I've never visited this dimension?"  
"My name is Keitaro Urashima, and I've heard of your deeds too."  
"Then you must not like me very much."  
"YOU KILLED MY SISTER, YOU BASTARD!" Keitaro took the katana forcefully from Motoko and held the entire blade to Ash's throat. "I should slit your throat, but that would hardly compare to what you put her through!" Ash had had enough holding back. He balled his hand into a fist, and with one punch to the gut, had Keitaro Urashima on the ground, coughing for air. The rest began to charge him, but Ash immediately whipped out his Spirit Gun and held it in the air. Immediately, everyone stopped. Ash slowly turned in a circle, using his Spirit Gun to keep everyone at bay. Jenny joined him, and Yusuke, one hand still on his crotch, made his own Spirit Gun. Nobody took a step closer to them.  
"Can I at least shoot the drunk?" Yusuke asked.  
"Calm down, Yusuke. We'll get an answer for this." Jenny said without looking at him. Then Ash spoke up to the five people who had tried to attack them.  
"Okay, listen to me. I want some answers." Ash stopped and lowered his Spirit Gun. "Who do you think I killed, and who told you the lie? I've killed nobody but those who tried to get in my way. The only female by that name was Vexus, and I doubt any of you are related to a robot." Nobody said anything. Ash rose his Spirit Gun again, causing a few of the girls to step back. "START TALKING!" Keitaro finally had managed to get over the effects of the punch, and had gotten back to his feet. He spoke solemnly.  
"You killed my sister, Kanako Urashima. Wayne Williams told me this, and I know he's not lying. So now we're here to make you pay." Ash's jaw nearly dropped to the floor.  
"What, didn't think I'd ever find out?" Keitaro looked pleased, as though he had accomplished something. Little did he know, Ash had something entirely different on his mind.  
"That...that means..." Ash stammered.  
"That you're going to die!" Keitaro said.  
"THAT WAYNE WAS HERE!" Ash screamed in realization.  
"Correction, little boy." came a voice that Ash knew all too well. "He IS here!" Ash, Jenny, Yusuke, and everyone turned around. To the horror of our heros, Wayne Williams stood on the roof of the Hinata House, with a smirk on his face.

"Here I am, rock you like a hurricane." Wayne chuckled at his own remark.  
"Wayne, Wayne!" Keitaro looked happy as could be. He ran up in front of Ash and shouted at Wayne. "You were absolutely right, Wayne. They are here. They're right here, and now we're going to kill them." Wayne chuckled at first, then he began his full force trademark evil laugh. Keitaro was confused. "Wayne?"  
"Ah..." Wayne finally stopped laughing. "Ah, I've decided to stop charading, young boy."  
"What do you--"  
"It was I who killed Kanako. Me, myself and I." Wayne held his chest up proudly, the comments caused Keitaro to faint, the girls rushing to his aide. Ash looked pissed, as he took a step forward, about to jump.  
"Wayne, you son of a bitch...you're--"  
"Ah, ah, ah, Ash." Wayne smirked as he pulled out a black katana which glew with a strange, red aura. "Before you deal with me...you must deal with THEM!" Wayne thrust the katana downward as hard as he could, right at Keitaro.  
"NO!" Came the cries of everyone at the same time. Everybody flinched, expecting to hear Keitaro cry out in pain, but there was silence. Everyone looked. The black haired woman, Motoko Aoyama, had managed to grab the katana by the handle, before it had come into contact with Keitaro. She smirked, as did Ash, Jenny, and Yusuke.  
"What's the matter, Wayne?" Yusuke mocked him. "Can't throw something hard enough to where a woman can't catch it?" Wayne just started lauging again.  
"This man has no honor." Motoko spoke furiously as she stepped foreward, the katana now in a ready position. "A liar, and a mass murderer. Mr. Ketchum, we apologize for our actions. And now we will return the favor by destroying Wayne." This comment caused Wayne to laugh even harder.  
"Before you get to that, my dear Motoko. Why don't you look at the blade you are holding, hm?" Curious, as to what he meant, Motoko looked at the Katana. Then, jumped back with horror as she tried to throw it, but it would not leave her grasp. Ash became urgent.  
"What is it? What is it?"  
"Hinata...The Omnious Blade?" Motoko looked as if she were about to cry as she looked at Wayne, who smiled evilly.  
"Yes."  
"NO!" Motoko was immediatly surrounded in a red flame. She could not even be seen through the intensity of the fire.  
"When she steps out of that," Wayne said loud enough for all to hear. "She will be under my control. I stole the blade from this weakling." Wayne motioned at Keitaro, then continued to talk. "I could sense a blade with much power as soon as I entered this dimension. Turns out that katana has an ancient demon dwelling within the steel. So I stole it, infused some of my own power into it, and voila! Anyone who holds it becomes my slave. And a very powerful one at that." Wayne smirked.  
"You...bastard." Ash snarled at Wayne. Wayne merely laughed as the flames surrounding Motoko began to die down.  
But the one thing that nobody noticed, not even Ash, who was technically staring right at it, was the large rift in the sky, opening up right behind Wayne...

Authors Note: Caleb here. Finally, Finally, FINALLY, I've completed this episode. Oh my, I've been working on this for God knows how long, but the fact of the matter is, it's done now. Stay tuned for Episode 22. :D


	22. Chapter 22

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 22 

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke. 

Disclaimer, first episode, blah blah blah. Time for Episode 22.

The fiery vortex that swirled around what was Motoko Aoyama slowly began to simmer down, though the flames remained too thick to make out anything beyond them. By this time, Enma had popped up on the wrist communicator, his mouth open wide in wonder of what Wayne's destruction could bring forth next. It was silent. Nobody, not even Wayne, whose smirk told his story, spoke. All eyes were on what was going to pop out when the vortex vanished.  
Suddenly, Enma jerked his head to the right. Though being on a portable screen, he could not see, he looked like something had broken through his distraction.  
"Ash!" Enma yelled with urgency, causing everyone to look in Ash's direction. Ash raised his wrist up to eye level.  
"Enma? When..." Ash started, but was cut off by Enma.  
"There's sombody-" Enma also started, but he was cut off as well.  
"Wayne, you son of a BITCH!" came a loud male voice from the sky. Everyone turned to look, and Wayne turned, only to jump to the side just in time, avoiding a Spirit Katana to the face. Wayne jumped and landed on the ground, mere feet from Ash. And now, in the spot on the room where Wayne had been standing, there stood another. With his Spirit Katana drawn, Riku Kurosawa stood before the residents, and was giving Wayne a look of menace, to the point that Wayne actually trembled as he got up because of the look. As the rift closed behind him, one thing was for sure. Riku meant business.  
"Riku!" Ash and Wayne said in unison. Neither were happy to see him. Jenny and Yusuke didn't know what to think after they saw what Riku had done back in Mushiyori City. Riku said nothing for a moment, before Wayne spoke up.  
"So, you've figured out how to use the Central Dimension on your own, eh?" Wayne grunted at Riku. "And now you've come to finish me off, eh? Pity, you could have had--"  
"Shut up." Riku said solemnly, cutting Wayne off mid-sentence. "Just keep your mouth shut you skinny little bastard. I could have jumped you in any of the cities. I chose to wait for the right time. Your master made one big mistake when he told you to instruct me, Wayne..."  
"And what might that be, hmm?" Riku just laughed.  
"He allowed me to keep my free will." Before Wayne, or anyone could react to what he said, Riku took a huge leap at Wayne, making a diving slash at the evil one, who once again, sidestepped and smirked at Riku. "Unless you're surrendering yourself to a quicker death, I suggest you arm yourself." Wayne just laughed.  
"You don't have me to worry about, Riku..." Wayne smiled coldly at him. "You have...her..." Wayne was casually pointing over Riku's shoulder. Riku and everybody else looked, and the image wasn't pretty. The vortex had finally dissolved, and there stood the form of Motoko, her body outlined in a solid black aura, her blade glowing as well, her eyes glowing a crimson red. All the female residents ran back into the house and locked it up, fearing for the worst. All but Keitaro, whom was still passed out.  
"Ah, damn you Wayne." Riku said as the possessed Motoko began to charge him. She raised her sword and struck, but was met with a parry by Riku, who countered with two attempted swings, one to the left leg and one to the right arm, the former being parried and the latter being dodged. The fighting went back and forth like this, when Wayne decided he was bored.  
"Well," Wayne said arrogantly. "She should entertain you for awhile. Now, I'm off. Motoko! Rendevous with me when you've finished off this little fucker." Motoko did not look up, but Riku knew that she had heard him, for immediately after Wayne spoke, she became more aggressive, striking more often and harder, but could not get a hit in on Riku. Wayne laughed and flew off into the forest.  
"Ash!" Riku shouted while continuing to defend himself against Motoko. He did not allow Ash to acknowledge that he had spoken before he spoke again. "Take your friends, follow Wayne, stop him!" Riku parried two more blows. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ash nod and run off in the direction Wayne had. Now seeing that the playing field was open for just the two of them, even seeing that somehow, Keitaro had managed to get away, Riku did as his opponent was doing, going on the full offensive. They both charged at the same time, and struck, their blades clashing, the two face to face.  
"He who opposes Wayne...shall...die..." Motoko spoke, not her own voice, but a deep, raspy, demonic voice. This woman was no longer Motoko Aoyama.  
"Say what you will, demon." Riku tried to force his blade upon her, but neither side was budging. "I am here to kill Wayne, and will accomplish my goal." The two jumped off of each other at the same time, and stood back, panting for a moment. Then, they charged again.

Ash, Jenny, and Yusuke were running through the forest as fast as they could. Ash had a very small track on Wayne, and he was doing his best not to lose that.  
"Do you guys think we can trust him?" Ash said, still concentrating on keeping pace with Wayne as he spat out the question.  
"I think we can." Jenny said.  
"I don't know." Yusuke commented. "We know that he's no longer with Wayne. But in my experiences, just because he is the enemy of our enemy, that doesn't make him our friend."  
"I'm with Yusuke on this one. I just can't trust that bastard after what I've seen him do with my own two eyes." Ash suddenly perked up, and began to run a little faster. Yusuke and Jenny shouted after him.  
"Ash, what's gotten into you?" Jenny shouted.  
"It's Wayne!" Ash yelled back, as he slowly progressed farther and farther away from the two. "He's stopped moving. Just up ahead. Come on!"

Riku and Motoko continued to fight, neither seeming to have an advantage over the other. Motko attacked, Riku parried. Riku attacked, Motoko dodged. So the fight went on for a while, each panting and sweating profusely. Until finally, it seemed like Riku had gained the upper hand.  
A sweep with the dull side of his blade caught Motoko on the calf, causing her to trip. She caught herself and knipped back up, only to be met with a blade. Before she had even gotten the chance to defend herself, Riku had skewered her through the chest with his blade. There was a smirk of triumph on his face as her body went limp on the blade, though Riku failed to notice that her grasp on the Hina Blade did not loosen in the slightest bit.  
"Now, demon, be exorcised from this woman!" Riku shouted, attempting to use his spirit powers to remove the demon. Silence. Silence. More Silence. Nothing happened. "I said...Now, Demon, be--"  
"Be what?" came a voice. Riku blinked in disbelief. Suddenly, the possesed Motoko straightened out, and the black aura surrounding her only became stronger. She lowered her feet to the ground, and though a rather large laceration on her chest still remained, and a matching one on her back where the katana had completely impaled her, she stood there as though nothing had happened, seemingly stronger than moments ago. Riku cursed under his breath as he drew the blade out, getting in a defensive position just in time to parry an attack by Motoko that would have sliced his head into two pieces. Another swipe, Riku parried, and this time rose his foot, kicking her square in the face. Motoko spiraled back and hit the dirt, giving Riku a moment to catch he breath before she got back up, a sick smile on her possessed face.  
"You cannot defeat me." it said in an even more demonic tone than before.  
"Damn you Wayne, just damn you." Riku said aloud, then thought to himself. "Okay, she can't be beaten normally this way. Do I have time to find out how to beat her? I may. Best thing to do? Ah! Hold her off until Ash has left the dimension, then head back. She'll go find Wayne, so this dimension should be safe." Riku rose his blade and parried an attack, then made an attack with his own. The man now had an intent. Hold Wayne's pawn off until the time was right.

Ash and company finally made their way to the edge of the forest. Immediately, Ash began to look around. He knew Wayne had stopped progressing here. The question was, where?  
"Ash, he's up there!" Jenny spoke. Ash looked back, then looked up, and stepped back, a small 'ahh' escaping his lips. Wayne had unfurled his wings and was now hovering a good fifty feet above the ground, right in front of a large clock face, which sat on the front wall of the Forbidden Annex.  
"Wayne, get down here you cowardly bastard!" Ash shouted, anger on his face. All that came in return was the soft sound of Wayne's laughter.  
"Why should I, Ash? Why should I?" He smirked. "I'm not going to. All I'm going to do is tell you this."  
"Another one of your games, then?" Ash barked, but Wayne ignored his comment completely.  
"All of you. You, Ash. Jenny, Yusuke, and that punk, Riku, and all of you. Every damn one of you. You're just one more realm away from your ends." Wayne began to laugh hysterically as a rift opened up behind him. Slowly, he began to back into it.  
"Get back here!" Ash shouted, but it was in vain, Wayne merely laughed as he disappeared completely into the rift, which then closed. Then silence. Wayne had fled the scene. "BASTARD!" Ash shouted as loud as he could and hit the ground with a fist of rage.  
"Ash..." Yusuke tried to calm him down, but Ash was having none of it.  
"Wayne..." Ash looked up at the clock face where the rift had been moments ago, and wondered to himself, 'What on earth could he mean?'

The fight between Riku and Motoko had carried on for quite a while now, both showing heavy fatigue.  
"Don't you realize that the evil lives in the skin, Riku?" the demonic voice that was being emitted from the woman's mouth spoke with a smirk.  
"It's easy to see that you are Wayne's creation, demon." Riku growled back. "I will find a way to defeat you, and your creator."  
"Heh, maybe, but not today." As if on cue with Motoko's words, a large rift opened up in front of her. Immediately, she leapt in, the rift closing right behind her. After a moment of soaking what had just happened in, Riku fell to his knees, sending his katana away. Sweat ran down his eyes, his face. His clothes were feeling about 5 pounds heavier with persperation. Had he perhaps fought too hard? No, he had fought normally. At least, he thought so. Was something driving him to go beyond his limits and not realize it? But what could? All these questions raced through Riku's mind, until his train of thought was snapped by the realization that there were about five people standing around him. Keitaro from earlier, and four girls, though a different one, one with long glod hair and black eyes, took the place of Motoko. Riku stared at them, they stared right back. Finally, Keitaro spoke up.  
"Shinobu?" As Keitaro spoke, a little blue haired girl, wearing a school uniform, snapped to attention. "Could you get him some water and a towel?"  
"Yes, Sempai, I'm on it." Her voice was soft and tender, she seemed so innocent as she ran back into the building on Keitaro's command. The attention was back on Riku, who still said nothing. He kept a straight face, but he was a little shocked. They were offering him hospitality? Again, his confused train of thought was broken when Keitaro spoke up.  
"What happened to Motoko? The girl Wayne...umm..."  
"Possessed." Riku spoke for the first time. "There's no way around it. He now has control of her." Keitaro nodded.  
"But where did she go?"  
"Long story short, she's gone with Wayne. Where that is, I don't know." Riku sat up, dirt on the back of his shirt. "But I have two damn good guesses."  
"How's she gonna get back?" The little foreign looking girl, Su, asked.  
"I'm not sure she's coming back." Riku now stood full to his feet. Everyone now had to look up at him. He easily stood a head over everyone. At this point, Shinobu came out and handed him a towel, which he took to wipe the sweat, and took a chug of the water. "Thank you." She nodded. "But I know I can lift that possession and destroy that katana."

Ash, Jenny, and Yusuke were walking back in the direction of the Hinata House, not a word between them, mostly. Ash had many things brought to his attention, many things on his mind for reasons he couldn't understand.  
"Hey, something just came to me." Jenny spoke up, as if she'd just had an idea.  
"That being...?" Ash and Yusuke replied in unison.  
"You two can still sense Riku's energy in this dimension, right?" Both nodded. "Then why don't we see if we can't catch him and get something out of him?" At the sound of this idea, Ash perked up his head.  
"Of course! Riku!" Ash broke off into a sprint, leaving the other two in the dust. Jenny and Yusuke followed, as the three hauled ass towards the Hinata House, where they could still sense Riku's spirit Energy coming from.

Riku jerked his head backwards, as he had suddenly sensed a strong urge fast approaching. For less than a second, he was curious, then it came to him. Ash still didn't trust him, and now, the young boy wanted answers. Riku's thoughts were true, as he saw the small figure of Ash approach on the horizon. He just smiled, relieved to himself.  
"Well, ladies." his voice suddenly suave. "This is where I take my leave. All I can leave you with is this. A promise on my life that I will see things through for your friend." Immediately recalling his katana, Riku leapt marvelously into the air, slicing at it with his blade, opening up a hole in time, a rift. It remained open for a few moments, before closing up behind Riku, taking him, assumedly, back to the Central Dimension.

"Damn it, he's gotten away!" Ash had made it to the clearing just in time to see the rift Riku had created close up. He cursed under his breath.  
"Hold on, Ash, maybe not..." Yusuke and Jenny were both looking directly upward, and Ash tilted his head up as well. Another rift, though this one not incredibly large in size, had ripped open, and a small black speck was falling out.  
"Wait a minute...that's..." Ash felt that energy before, and he was sure it didn't belong to Wayne, Riku, or any other entity that would cause them harm. And his suspicions proved true, when all three of them viewed the small, brown haired, young woman drop, and land face first before them in the grass. Her body went comically limp as she lay stretched out on the ground in front of the three dumbstruck heroes.  
"Osaka..." the three muttered in unison. Slowly, she got up, rubbing her head, but still that large, open mouthed smile on her face that made it impossible to do anything but welcome her.  
"Did I land in the right place? Is this where Enma said for me to go?" She noticed that she had landed near Ash, Jenny, and Yusuke. "Oh, Hi guys!"  
"Osaka, what're you.." Jenny started, but stopped when she noticed something about the looks on Ash and Yusuke's faces. "Umm...guys?"  
"You've gotten stronger, haven't you?" Yusuke inquired, completely ignoring Jenny. Ash nodded and asked also.  
"So, all the training with Genkai has done this for you?" Ash looked somewhat impressed. Osaka nodded.  
"Yeah, we've been training real hard. Then just a little bit ago, Enma told me he wanted me to join y'all for awhile." She went on to tell about how Enma explained the Central Dimension to her, had allowed her to use it, and how she had been able to get here.  
"But how did you know which one the right door was?" Jenny asked curiously. Osaka's response wasn't exactly what any of them were expecting.  
"Well, I didn't really. See, I was confused. All these doors, which one to choose? My head started to spin, so I leaned up against what seemed like a pretty secure door, to try and relax myself. All of a sudden, that door swings wide open, and I'm falling. Then I land here." She giggled. "Quite a coincidence, eh?" Ash had to fake a laugh, but she seemed convinced.  
"Yeah...heh, totally..." Though Ash had a pretty damn good idea of how that door had really come open. There was a little bit of silence, and, not wanting to arouse suspicion, Yusuke spoke up.  
"I think we should get going." he said firmly. "We need to keep pace with Wayne."  
"Well, what about them?" Jenny pointed to the apartments, where the residents were still waiting outside. Though Ash and company could see them, the four heroes were apparently out of eyeshot from the dormants.  
"Riku took care of them." Ash said, as though he was unwilling to admit it. They've got hope. Our buisness is done here. Jenny, and Yusuke nodded, Osaka just seemed spaced out.  
"Well, then, follow me." she said, and began to walk back towards the Annex. Everyone was confused.  
"Wait, why?" Ash stammered.  
"Well, Enma told me that when we wanted to leave here, we could jump at the clock face on an Annex to the north of here. He said that was the rift to get back to the Central Dimension." Everyone's faces lit up, as they followed her back to the Annex.

Riku was cautious for a moment, using every bit of his power to scan as far into the reaches of the Central Dimension as he could. Silent, with his eyes shut for what seemed like a while. Then he opened them. No trace of Wayne or Motoko in this dimension. Good. He had timed as he wanted. He had given Wayne and Motoko enough time to get out of this place. He did not want any confrontations with Wayne or Motoko here. He didn't want any confrontations here. Taking a deep sigh, he reassured himself that his words moments ago were the right thing. This was what he could do. Help them. Whether they trusted him or not would be another thing, but for now, he had to do what he could. It would mean both being accepted by the one he loved, and getting his shot at the one he despised.  
With this in mind, Riku Kurosawa leaned up against the wall opposite the door he'd just come out of, leaning against it. He stared at that door, watching, waiting for the time it would open.

The company, now consisting of four, now looked once again onto the Annex.The large clockface read 4:16PM, but that was not what they were looking for.  
"That's it?" Ash asked.  
"That's it." Osaka confirmed. Enma says all we have to do is jump right at it, and the force of our bodies will be more than enough to force the rift, the door, if you will, open."  
"Well then," Yusuke said, smirking. "What are we waiting for!" Before anyone could even process the last bit of that statement, Yusuke jumped, and was heading right for the Clock. Not being ones to be left behind, Ash, and Jenny jumped too, shortly followed by Osaka. Yusuke passed through unscathed, as did the latter three. They saw space and time, then saw wood. Next thing any of them knew, they were smacking right into a wooden door, which flung right open. The four now lay on the floor of the Central Dimension.

Riku heard it and felt it coming. The combined energy of four people, rocketing his way.  
"Well, here goes nothing." the man said to nobody in particular. He stood straigt up, and readied himself for whatever was going to happen to him out of this.

"Ow...I don't remember the Central Dimension being that forceful..." Yusuke rubbed his head a little, apparently recieving the brunt of the force on that wood, which reguardless ofhis sprit energy, still stung a little bit. Ash, Jenny, and Osaka, however, had their minds on something entirely different. That which stood before them.  
"Riku!" Ash said angrily. Sure enough, there he stood. Now seemingly cleaned, Riku stood there staring them down. Ash leapt to his feet and gripped Riku by the collar. Because of the height difference, though, the former was looking up to the latter. "Okay, you ran from our fight, and after all this, I know even less. I have questions, you have answers, let's get to them." Riku made no attempt to free himself from Ash's grip, he just looked at the young boy with a straight face.  
"You have to ask, Ash?" Riku said cooly. "All you need to know is that I'm no longer allied with Wanye. Don't you consider the enemy of the enemy to be your friend?" This caused Ash to grip harder, but Riku was still unphased.  
"You are most certainly not my friend!" Riku just shrugged.  
"Figured as much, but whether you like it or not, I'm here for your assistance now." Ash started to say something, but Riku kept talking. "Whether you choose to accept this or not is one thing, but I know quite a lot about Wayne and his intent." For a minute, Ash and Riku just stared each other down.  
"Ash...I think he's trustable..." Jenny said timidly, somehow having a feeling that she was going to set Ash off. Sure enough, he wasn't exactly thrilled by her comment.  
"You sure?" Ash didn't look at her, not wanting to take his eyes off of Riku.  
"I agree, Ash." Yusuke said. Ash left an opening for Osaka to talk, but she said nothing. Only stared at Riku, just as Ash was doing. Again, Ash stared Riku down for awhile, and nobody spoke. Finally, with a hatefull huff, Ash let go, and turned away from Riku.  
"Fine...but one fuck up from you--"  
"There won't be any of that, Ash, I promise you." Riku turned and started to walk. "I know where Wayne has landed next. Follow me." On his word, Ash, Jenny, and Yusuke began to walk. One however, did not.  
"Wait!" came the voice of the only female human with them. Everybody stopped and turned around. Osaka had yet to move, and was staring Riku down. Ash, Jenny, and Yusuke were sort of shocked. One thing they could not imagine was right before them. Osaka looked pissed, fire in her eyes, all the hatred in her body had surfaced, and everybody knew why. Even the man she targeted.  
"I'm not going to try and downtrot what I did to your homeland, and I know it was wrong, but I-" Riku was cutoff.  
"Don't talk, you peice of trash, I'm the one who's gonna call the shots here." Riku was taken aback at what he was hearing. He shouldn't have been surprised, and he knew it, but for whatever reason, he was. Ash was starting to understand where she was going with this, and didn't like it.  
"Osaka..." Ash tried to calm her down, but to absolutly no avail.  
"Shut up, Ash! All three of you, stay out of this." she barked at them, and then started to walk toward Riku. "All I want is this. You, and me. Fight. The fight does not end until one of us is dead. I'll either take you down, or go down with the rest of my memories that you destroyed."  
"I'm not going to fight you, listen!" Riku now went on the defensive now, but he would get nothing.  
"No, I'm going to fight you!" Osaka had stopped walking, she now leapt at him, throwing a hard fast punch at Riku, who quickly blocked with his forearm. She brought forth her left, and he stopped her fist with his hand. The size difference was so radical that Riku could grasp her whole fist in his hand. For a moment, he stopped the action.  
"Dammit, Kasuga, not now! Understand that I've changed!" Tears were now forming up in her eyes.  
"I don't give a damn if you've changed, I want you DEAD!" She flipped over him and landed on the other side, quickly forming her hand into a gun, pointed straight at his gut.  
"Spirit Gun!" On cue, Osaka released a large blue ball of energy from the tip of her finger, which Riku only barely sidestpped. Ash, Jenny and Yusuke had to jump out of the way as, luckily, the Gun hit a part of wall and not a door. Ash was starting to get edgy.  
"We can't do this here!" he yelled.  
"Agreed. Riku said as Osaka came flying at him with another punch, which he blocked. Riku looked her square in the eyes as she punched at him again. "I'm sorry." And before she could respond, he planted a solid fist firmly in her gut. Within seconds, she was on the ground, holding her stomach, coughing madly, gasping for air. Riku sighed, and walked to her.  
"Look, we don't have time for this. I'm sorry for what I did, but.." Suddenly, he stopped mid-sentence as Osaka rolled over and glared him down, as though her pain was instantly gone. She reved her hand back, and before Riku could block, the words came out of her mouth.  
"SPIRIT SHOTGUN!" Osaka forced her arm forward, and a flurry of smaller Spirit Bullets mashed Riku, each a dead on hit in the face. Impacted by the force of the blast at point blank, Riku was sent flying high up into the depths of the endless central dimension. A small moment later, he fell back down, his body landing right beside hers with a large thud. Everyone waited, even Osaka, who was back on her feet. They waited. Nothing. No motion. Everyone was shocked. Osaka, little carefree Ayumu "Osaka" Kasuga, had just put Riku down for the count. She stepped over to his body, seeing his eyes open, looking at her from that charred face.  
"It's a fight to the death you know." She glared at him.  
"I know. And I'm admitting defeat. You got the better of me. If death be my punishment for all my actions, then I welcome myself to it." Riku waited. Ash waited. Jenny and Yusuke waited. All eyes were on Osaka now. Riku had opened himself. Admitting defeat right here. Then, after what seemed like an eternity, Osaka, tears forming in her eyes, but still a gruff look on her face, turned away from everyone else.  
"Get up..." she said, everyone could tell she was fighting tears. "I won't go that low." She lowered her head and walked back to behind the rest of the group, giving the body language that she was ready to follow. Riku meanwhile, sat up, and eventually got up. He was the one to break the silence. He motioned at a door that they had come relativly close to.  
"Right there." Riku said, pointing. "The last door Wayne used was that one." Riku, followed by Ash, Jenny, Yusuke, and an emotionally fighting Osaka, followed him en route to the door.

Authors note: Caleb here. I've finally gotten back into the form of writing, and boy does it feel good. What's going to become of Riku? Osaka? And what of the next dimension? Is it Amity Park? Stay tuned to find out.


	23. Wayne in Love

PokeWing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 23: Wayne in Love 

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volske 

Disclaimer. YARGH. Episode 1. Read. Episode 23.

As the five heroes fell through the new rift, they felt something weird. As Ash looked to his side, he saw Jenny smiling wavily again, as smoke leaked out of her.  
"Oh shit." Ash said. "We're underwater again."  
"Yep." Yusuke said.  
Riku simply said nothing, looking over at the three Spirit Detectives with a slightly disturbed expression on his face. 'These are our saviors?' he thought.  
The five noticed that, around them, there were weird things floating around. Then suddenly, Jenny was magically back in Sandy's wetsuit.  
"Hmm..." Jenny said, reverting to normal. "Scanners show we're in...Bikini Bottom?"  
"Wayne came back here?" Ash asked, his eyes narrowed comically.  
"It must be to access the next dimension. We must be in...the Fly of Despair..." Riku explained.  
"Wait, there's no door leading to the next dimension?" Ash asked.  
"There IS, but it can't be accessed conventionally." Riku said.  
"What you you mean?" Jenny asked, confused.  
"It, and seven other dimensions, are connected to a special, otherwise-inaccessible room of the Central Dimension, known as the Dimensional Elevator." Riku explained, then looked over at Ash. "Amity Park is connected there as well."  
"Wait, how did...?" Ash asked, before Wayne's words from earlier came back to haunt him. "Oh SHIT! That's what Wayne meant when he said we were one realm away from destruction!"  
"Yeah..." Riku said. "From this next dimension, he can directly access Amity Park."  
"Then he must be heading for the Foster's dimension!" came Enma's voice, as Ash's communicator switched on automatically.  
"Ash, listen to me carefully..." Enma explained. "DON'T let Wayne into the rift there. If he gets into it, he'll be able to--"  
"Access Amity Park, and reach the Spirit Stone, I know." Ash said. "What I want to know is how HE knows." he finished, pointing his thumb in Riku's direction.  
"Riku Yukimora?" Enma asked, shocked to see him there.  
"Please. I would rather be referred to as Riku Kurosawa. I want nothing to do with my father or his name." Riku said.  
"Very well. I assume you know where your loyalties lie now? I won't allow you to do whatever you want, you know." Enma said.  
"Relax." Riku said. "I want to help you. I want to do what I feel is the right thing. So my loyalties lie with you, if you'll have me."  
"Then welcome aboard, Riku." Enma said.

"Gah!" Misty shouted angrily. "It's been nearly four months wihout word from Ash! And where the hell did Janine run off to"  
"When he finishes his mission, he'll be back." Delia said.  
Suddenly, Misty's eyes narrowed comically as she asked "And just how long have you known about Ash working for Enma?"  
"Oh, before he started working for him." Delia explained nonchalantly. "You see, he and Ash's father were...nothing! You heard nothing..."  
"Wait...they were what? What is it?" Misty asked. Delia's head suddenly grew comically huge as her pupils vanished, and she screamed "YOU HEARD NOTHING!"  
Her head then shrank back to normal size as she then said "Now anyway...I've known all along."  
"But he doesn't know that you know. Why don't you tell him you know?" Misty asked. "Ash deserves the truth from his own mother's mouth!"  
"I won't tell him until he's ready to confess his secret to me." Delia said, seriously. "It's HIS secret."  
"You know..." Misty trailed off, then smiled as she continued. "...I think I've found even more respect for you, Mrs.Ketchum."

A familiar woman, covered in shadow stood atop a large building in a dark town, overlooking said town. "So, this is where the Spirit Stone is..." she said, looking down.  
"Yes..." came a voice from behind the woman. She turned to see Plasmius, floating in midair.  
"You must be Plasmius." the woman said, smirking.  
"And you...I sense blood similar to Wayne's coursing within you. Are you by chance...?" Plasmius asked.  
"Yes. I am his older sister." the woman said, and the shadows faded enough to reveal that the woman was indeed Janine.  
"So, another WIlliams is here to take the Spirit Stone. What could you want with the stone, you brat?" Plasmius asked.  
"Easy. I'm going to borrow its power and put my brother to rest." Janine said.  
"I thought he said you were out to 'save' him." Plasmius said.  
"I am...but the only way my brother can possibly be saved now is to be killed." Janine said, a sad tone in her voice.  
"And you want to be the one to do that..." Plasmius realized.  
"Yeah." Janine answered silently.  
"...I'm sorry." Plasmius said, actually sounding sincere.  
"Could you not tell Wayne I'm here?" Janine asked. "I know you're one of his minions, but--"  
"I'm not. I intend on severing our ties in a most unpleasent manner." Plasmius said, coldly. "I never saw you here tonight." he added, before disappearing.  
"Thank you..." she said, to herself, before picking up the last picture ever taken of them before their lives went to hell. In the picture, she was only eight, and Wayne was only six. They both stood back-to-back, big grins on their faces. Suddenly, tears began to fall onto the picture, as she murmured something sounding like "Brother...", before audibly sobbing.

Down below, a pair of shadowy figures walked along the street. The first one spoke up as it heard Janine's sobbing, barely.  
"Did you hear that, Danny?" the first figure, apparently female, based on her voice, asked. The other, Danny, simply said, "No, I don't hear anything. My ghost sense isn't going off, either.", before they continued to walk away.

"You realize we're still falling, right?" Ash said, yawning from boredom. About ten minutes had passed since the five had entered the rift.  
"Yes Ash...I realize we're still falling." Riku said, rolling his eyes. "Now would be a good time to slash to your left with the Rift Sword." he added.  
"Huh? Oh...uh...okay..." Ash said, slicing to his left. Suddenly, a rift opened "Well I'll be damned. A rift." Ash said. "But how did--"  
"Let's save the small talk for later. This rift should take us to Foster's." Riku explained. Ash just shrugged and moved into the rift. Jenny, Yusuke, Osaka, and Riku immediately followed. As they fell through this rift, Ash began to wonder what kind of place this "Foster's" was.  
"Hey Riku, what kind of place is this Foster's dimension?" Ash asked.  
"It's very...strange." Riku said. "We're about to arrive, so why don't you see for yourself?" he asked.  
As he finished speaking, sure enough, the five detectives arrived, landing in front of a large mall. As Jenny looked around, she was weirded out to find a bus with many different colors painted on it. On it's side was a logo, which read "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends".  
"Foster's Home for WHAT?" Jenny shouted, alerting the others as to what she was reading.  
"Imaginary friends." Riku explained. "In this dimension, if you imagine something or someone, it becomes a living, breathing creature."  
"No shit!" Yusuke said, shocked at this revelation. "So if I imagined a Krabby Patty...?"  
"It'd become real." Riku said.  
"Awesome!" Yusuke said, before closing his eyes. Seconds later, a Krabby Patty appeared in his now-outstretched hand.  
"SCORE!" he shouted, before the Krabby Patty sprouted legs, eyes, and a mouth, then ran off.  
"Like I said, anything or anyone you imagine becomes real. By real, I mean ALIVE." Riku explained.  
"So, ah could imagine someone like Miss Yukari?" Osaka asked.  
"Exactly." was Riku's answer, as he looked around for any sign of Wayne.  
"For a dimension with so much magical energy, it seems a bit on the normal side." Ash said, scratching his head.  
"True. Then again, I can't sense magical energy anyway." Jenny said.  
"But I can, seeing as how what power I have comes from it." Enma said, popping up once again on Ash's communicator. "Wayne's somewhere in that mall, Ash. I can sense him using his magic."  
"Oh dear God...he wouldn't..." Riku said, his eyes widening in horror.  
"Wouldn't what?" Ash asked, before realizing what Riku had meant. "Oh SHIT!" he shouted, running toward the mall. Jenny, Yusuke, and Osaka looked at each other, while Riku followed Ash. Two seconds later, they were also following Ash. As they entered the mall, they looked around in horror. Osaka screamed as she saw what everyone was looking at. Bodies were laying all around, and enormous pools of blood had formed all over the mall. Some bodies were merely impaled. Some were cut in half. Some were diced to pieces, and some were burned beyond all recognition.  
"Wayne...you son of a bitch..." Riku muttered, looking at the bodies, before walking forward. Ash just stood there, his mouth agape at the horrors before him.  
"Riku, wait!" Ash called after him. "There's something you need to know about Wayne!"  
"That he's a mindless puppet?" Riku asked nonchalantly, causing Osaka to gasp, since she had no knowledge of Wayne being a puppet. This incited a gasp from Ash as well.  
"Wait...you KNEW?" Ash asked, his tone showing small traces of anger. "How long did you--" he started, but Riku cut him off with the answer before he could finish.  
"The whole time." he said.  
"And you're STILL planning to kill him?" Ash asked, his eyes now wide.  
"Of course. Victim or not, it was him who commited those countless murders." Riku said, causing Osaka to scowl and speak up.  
"Just leave 'im, Ash. Ah guess a monster never truly changes." she said, coldly. "We can defeat Wayne on our own!"  
"...I'm not a monster." Riku said, to himself, looking at Osaka. "Wayne is the monster. Wayne took eight years of my life."  
"That's funny. Ah coulda sworn ah just heard you plotting the same tactics this so-called 'monster' would have plotted." Osaka said, before running off in the direction of a scream of horror that had just erupted into the hallways.  
"Humph." Riku crossed his arms and looked away, before running after Osaka. Ash, Jenny, and Yusuke followed suit.  
"Jenny. Scan for any remaining lifeforms." Ash said, as they ran.  
"Right!" Jenny said, then one of her "pigtails" transformed into a radar dish. As they ran, the two non-robotic detectives heard the radar give off twelve beeps. "Twelve people are alive. There's you, me, Yusuke, Osaka, Riku, and seven others in here." Jenny answered, after a minute.  
"One of them is Wayne." Ash said. Suddenly, he and Yusuke both broke out into a cold sweat.  
"Ash! Yusuke!" Jenny asked, worried for her friends.  
"You feel it too, huh Ash?" Yusuke said, his eyes wide.  
"Yeah...I've never felt this much spirit energy coming from one thing...what IS it?" Ash asked, fear evident in his tone.  
Suddenly, Ash's communicator switched on, revealing Enma's face, which showed worry.  
"Ash, that energy...it feels like the Spirit Stone." Enma said.  
"But how?" Ash said. "It's supposed to be in Amity Park!"  
"So I thought..." Enma trailed off. "But what if Wayne, or someone else, found it?"  
"With all due respect, sir, I don't think Wayne could have found it." Yusuke said.  
"It might be Plasmius, then." Enma mused loudly.  
"Who?" Jenny asked.  
"Nothing. Nothing. Get your butts in gear, and find the source of that energy! Just pray that Wayne doesn't get his hands on it!" Enma said gravely, as the communicator turned off.  
"I wonder who this Plasmius that Enma mentioned is?" Ash said, as they continued to run along.  
"Dunno, let's worry about it later." Yusuke said. "Here's our stop."  
The three ran up to Riku and Osaka, who were watching Wayne from behind some bushes. Wayne seemed to be looking through the window of a furniture store, at a girl reclining in an expensive massage chair. Ash's eyes widened considerably as he noticed that Wayne wasn't smirking. He was smiling a wavy, lovelorn smile.  
"The most...beautiful creature in the cosmos..." Wayne said out loud.  
Suddenly, all five detectives had big sweatdrops fall from their heads.  
"Did Wayne...just say that chick in the massage chair was beautiful?" Yusuke asked, his eyes comically beady.  
"Well...she IS pretty good looking." Ash said.  
"Ash!" Yusuke and Jenny said.  
"What? It's not like I said I was gonna date her!" Ash protested.  
"I guess...even the most evil of monsters get crushes..." Riku said, his eyes also beady.

Meanwhile, inside the furniture store, the girl rose up slowly, frowning as she noticed that no one was around.  
"Did I sleep past closing time?" the girl asked, grumbling as she eased her way out of the massage chair, only to be greeted by a blood-covered Wayne.  
"Hey baby." Wayne said, his eyes narrowing slyly, as his index fingers stuck out and he grinned cheesily. "Wanna ride the WIlliams Express?"  
Ash, overhearing this, stood cloaked by shadow for a few seconds. Then, his friends heard him snicker. He then emerged from the shadows and began to laugh at an extreme level of volume.  
"Is...is Wayne...hitting on her?" Ash asked, between fits of loud laughter.  
Yusuke and Jenny began to laugh riotously as well.  
"SHUT UP, ANONYMOUS VOICES WHO SOUND LIKE MY ENEMIES! I'M TRYING TO WAX ROMANTIC HERE!" Wayne roared.  
The girl, whose eyes were wide ever since seeing him, began to scream loudly, before dashing out of the furniture store.  
"Wait, come back!" Wayne shouted, then dejectedly added "Call me...oh, damn it...she doesn't have my number."  
"No, jackass, but WE do." came Ash's voice, as he stepped forth from the bushes. His partners followed suit.  
"It was you!" Wayne said, pointing angrily at Ash.  
"Well, duh...who else sounds like us?" Ash asked, his eyes narrowing in boredom.  
"You will pay for distracting me from that redheaded angel!" Wayne said, drawing his sword.  
"Anytime you're ready, assbite." Ash said, the Rift Sword forming in his left hand.  
"Uh, Ash...weren't we gonna AVOID killing Wayne?" Jenny asked, her eyes narrowed comically.  
"Yep." Ash said." I'm not gonna kill him. I'm just gonna smash his face into the nearest hard surface ten or twenty times."  
"Oh..." Jenny said.  
"I'll handle this, then. Ah'd like to repay whatever's controllin' him for destroying my dimension." Osaka said.  
"I'll handle him." Riku said, suddenly.  
"No." Ash said, his expression becoming serious. "I want to take him ALIVE." "Then I'll hold back." Riku said.  
"I said I'D handle this!" Osaka challenged.  
"You may be a rose of martial arts, Ayumu Kasuga, but you don't have the combat experience to fight Wayne. He's a weed. He reaches out and wraps his slimy tendrils around anything he can, choking the life out of it. To fight him would put a quick end to your own life. Surely you must have felt his strength in Mushiyori City." Riku said, his eyes closed the entire time.  
"But ah.." Osaka trailed off.  
"You have too cute a face to waste your life fighting for some false ideal of justice. Justice is no more than an excuse for people to commit murder without being blamed for it." Riku said.  
"At least you and I can still somewhat agree on some things, Riku." Wayne said, smirking.  
"Shut up, monster...shut up and..." Riku trailed off.  
"And what? Die?" Wayne said, with a laugh, before the smirk vanished, replaced by a frown. "Silly man. You can't decide my fate. How dare you even BEGIN to think you CAN!" he shouted, before rushing Riku. A Spirit Katana materialized in Riku's right hand, and he parried Wayne's initial blow, retaliating with one of his own.  
"We'd better give these two room!" Ash said, running off.  
"It'd be a good idea to find that girl and those other survivors." Yusuke added, before joining Ash in running off.  
"Wait for us!" Jenny and Osaka added, before joining Ash and Yusuke.  
"Now...as I was saying...shut up or suffer." Riku said, slashing again at Wayne, who simply stepped out of the way.  
"My dear Riku...do you really think you can hurt me?" Wayne asked, smirking as he swung his sword at Riku again. Riku managed to block it, but had more difficulty, as Wayne's swing had grown in force.  
"No. You can't hurt me." Wayne continued, swinging again, even harder than last time. Riku blocked once more.  
"Want to bet on that, Williams?" Riku said, smirking as well. He then swung his katana full-force at Wayne, who failed to block in time, and was punished by having his right shoulder sliced open.  
"AARGH!" Wayne shouted in pain. "You...you...you drew...BLOOD!" he shouted, his eyes turning amber. "YOU BASTARD!"  
"Heh heh heh." Riku snickered.  
Wayne then howled in anger, as he charged at Riku. The former was seeing red. Wayne swung his sword at blinding speed, but each time, Riku was able to parry his attack. Suddenly, Wayne sheathed his sword and said "My fate..."  
His eyes were covered by shadow for a few minutes, as he kept repeating those two words. Riku looked a little weirded-out, until Wayne's head rose again, revealing him now having red eyes, and he shouted "NOBODY DECIDES MY FATE BUT ME!"  
before pulling back his left arm and making a fist. Riku's katana disappeared, and he threw his arms up in defense, as he knew what was about to happen.  
"DEVIL...SHOTGUN!" Wayne shouted, and his fist began to glow with purple energy, which then erupted from said fist, pushing Riku through the furniture store window, causing it to shatter into a million pieces as Riku flew through it.  
"D-damn." Riku muttered, as he stood up, then said "Okay Ash, I tried it your way...NOW THE GLOVES ARE OFF!", as his katana rematerialized in his right hand.  
"Don't kid yourself." Wayne said with a frown.  
"Monster! Prepare to die!" Riku shouted, diving fiercely at Wayne. He then slashed with his Spirit Katana, but Wayne caught it with his left hand. As blood trickled down said hand, he shot a deadly serious look at Riku.  
"Playtime's over." he said, raising his cut hand and pressing his index and middle fingers together. After a few seconds, the ground began to violently rumble.  
"Wha...what the...!" Riku said, actually somewhat taken aback. He had never seen this attack of Wayne's.  
"SATAN'S FURY!" Wayne screamed, rushing at Riku with unbelieveable speed. Suddenly, he began slashing, and slashing, and slashing, relentlessly. When he stopped, it took a few seconds for the effects to appear on Riku.Suddenly, the latter screamed at the top of his lungs as hundreds of scars appeared on his body simultaneously.  
"That wasn't fatal, but you WILL feel that for a LONG time, Riku Kurosawa. You will suffer endlessly for your betrayal, after I've acquired the Spirit Stone. Which reminds me..." Wayne trailed off. He looked over to his right. Approaching fast were Ash, Jenny, Yusuke, and Osaka, along with the red-haired girl from before, as well as a brown-haired boy and an azure-blue...thing, well, pure blue except for his eyes and the black line along his face(Which Wayne assumed was his mouth.). "The cavalry's arrived." Wayne said, his eyes still red and his frown still present.  
"...Riku!" Ash shouted, noticing the scars on Riku's body.  
"He's...he's still toying with us..." Riku said weakly. "He's stronger than any of us"  
"That's the way it will ALWAYS be." Wayne said, walking toward Ash. Ash suddenly noticed that Wayne's eyes were now red.  
"Look pal...we don't want trouble." the blue thing said.  
"Shhh! Keep it down, Bloo!" came the girl's frightened voice.  
"But..." the thing, known as Bloo, started, before the girl shouted.  
"BLOO!"  
"Alright, alright, sheesh! Excuuuuuse me for trying to talk to a psycho, Frankie!" Bloo said, rolling his eyes.  
"Ignoring that..." Wayne said, staring at Ash. "Ready to get your ass handed to you?"  
"Bring it." Ash said, returning Wayne's serious gaze.  
For several minutes, Ash stared Wayne down, as Osaka rushed to Riku's side and helped him lean on her so they could get out of the path of the upcoming fight. Suddenly, both Ash and Wayne roared and charged at each other. Both swung their swords as hard as they could, and the resulting sound of metal hitting metal rang throughout the mall, along with their earlier roars.  
"Don't you see, Wayne? You're nothing but a puppet! Just like the people I thought were being used by you!" Ash shouted.  
"Shut up, Ketchum. My master helped me acquire this power...and I will use it well. I will use it to destroy you and your pathetic race!" Wayne shouted back. "If using me means he'll make me powerful enough to fulfill my one true desire, then I'll GLADLY be used any day!" he continued.  
"You're beyond reason! You'd rather be controlled by whatever heartless bastard is doing this to you than be free to do whatever you want?" Ash shouted, dodging a right hook from Wayne, just barely.  
"I AM DOING WHAT I WANT!" Wayne shouted, at the top of his lungs. "I want to kill you, I want to destroy all humankind, and I want to make sure that my people rule again!"  
"What people, Wayne?" Ash shouted. "You and Janine are the last two Eltherians!"  
"Then I will make this into the world where the Eltherian population will revive!" Wayne retorted, punching directly at Ash's face. Ash dodged well enough to escape major injury. The only one he had received was a long scratch across his left cheek, courtesy of Wayne's thumbnail.  
"Jesus Christ! I've never seen Ash fight like this!" Yusuke said, amazed.  
"I know! It's like he's a whole different person!" Jenny said, her mouth agape.  
Suddenly, the Rift Sword disappeared from Ash's hands, and he pulled back his right arm, making a fist.  
"SHOTGUN!" Ash shouted, as he aimed the resulting attack, surprisingly, at the floor.  
"He shot the floor!" Osaka asked, in disbelief.  
Ash then revealed his reason for shooting the floor, as he began to spin around at blinding speed. As he dropped, he screamed "SPIRIT KICK!", and kicked Wayne in the face when he had nearly descended fully. As Wayne flew across the mall hallway, something horrible happened. Ash could suddenly see that Wayne was flying back into something that the five detectives knew...all too well.  
"He's heading into the rift!" Yusuke shouted.  
"NO!" Ash shouted, running futilely toward Wayne. Wayne realized he was heading straight for the rift, and began to laugh, as he shouted "Game over! I WIN!" and disappeared into the closing rift, cackling insanely.  
"NO!" Ash repeated. His wrist communicator immediately started beeping afterward. When he answered it, Enma was smiling sarcastically.  
"Great job, Ash!" Enma said, sarcasm as evident in his tone as it was in his smile, which immediately vanished as he continued.  
"You just gave Wayne a one-way ticket to AMITY PARK!" he shouted the last part to accentuate the point he voiced next. "We're screwed..."  
"We are SO screwed..." he trailed off, as the camera panned out from all of the people standing there. Wayne had reached his destination. Even if Ash could get there immediately, there was no telling how short or how long it would be until the evil redhead had his hands on the very object that would spell doom for all humankind...

Author's note:Dustin here/Sorry if the end to this chapter is crappy. I'm tired and in a bit of a rush. But hey, next episode is special for two reasons. The first reason is because of a new ending theme. The second is...it's the last episode of the first season! Don't you dare miss it!


	24. Ash, Meet Jazz

PokeWing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 24:Ash, Meet Jazz 

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke 

Disclaimer. YARGH. Episode 1. Read. TIME FOR SEASON TWO :D Episode 24.

"Well, Ash, while we ARE indeed screwed," Enma said, obviously still pissed at what had just recklessly happened. "You may want to check on Mister Kurosawa." Ash sort of stared off into the space where the Rift had been, thinking, before he snapped back to reality a few seconds after Enma had finished his sentence. Ash, along with Jenny and Yusuke, looked over their shoulders and began to run the opposite way, seeing Osaka doing her best to haul Riku to them.  
"Is he gonna be okay?" Ash said, actually sounding concerned. Riku had taken one hell of a blow in Ash's mind.  
"I'm not sure..." Osaka said. Surprisingly, she too, sounded concerned.  
"He's out cold right now," Enma stated, looking on from the Wrist communicator screen, Ratty had actually joined him by his side. "And if I know wounds, those will hurt for a LONG time if he's not healed."  
"DAYUMN!" Was Ratty's comment, in his usual tone of voice. "Wayne's a heartless bastard. He'll be sucking it for years to come for this. YEARS!"  
"Okay, okay, easy Ratty." Enma tried to calm his sidekick down. "The enthusiasm is well placed, but we need your help this time."  
"Oh really?" Ratty raised his black bushy eyebrow to this. Enma nodded affirmativly.  
"Yes. I need you to go fetch Botan and make a beeline for Fosters. Riku needs healing, immediatly." Ratty responded with a halfway salute, since his arms wouldn't really reach his forehead.  
"Got it, boss. Those lascerations are gonna SUCK IT!" Ratty jumped down and scampered away to fetch Botan, but could be heard repeating "Dayumn" as he ran off, until he was too far away to be heard. Enma looked over his shoulder to make sure Ratty was out of earshot before he turned and spoke to the four heros, five if you count the KOed one.  
"Why, oh WHY did I hire him?" Ash, Jenny, Yusuke and Osaka just shrugged and gave Enma a very 'It's your own damn fault look', to which Enma just sighed.  
"Moving on...Ash, once we get Riku some medical attention, I need you to run to a place called Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. The Central Dimension rift is there now." he explained.  
"I have a question." Jenny asked suddenly.  
"What is it?" Enma responded with his own question.  
"Why is it that when we were at Hinata Hot Springs, the Central Dimension rift wasn't in the same place the door spit us out in?" Jenny asked.  
"These rifts don't just stay in one place. In order to protect the very fabric of the dimensional universe, they automatically relocate every time they're used." Enma explained. "That way, people can't cross over _en masse_ from other dimensions. The only one that stays in the same place is the one in my palace."  
"Makes sense." Yusuke said.  
"So Enma...what about that radical source of energy?" Ash asked.  
"Yeah...maybe we aren't screwed after all! You said it felt like the Spirit Stone!" Yusuke said.  
"It's coming from that little blue guy." Enma said dully.  
Ash and Yusuke both exchanged glances at each other, then at Bloo.  
"What the crap are you guys talking about?" Bloo asked, his eye slanting, as though he were weirded out.  
"Could it be that he...ate the Spirit Stone?" Ash asked.  
"You ravenous little bastard! COUGH IT UP!" Yusuke shouted, grabbing Bloo and giving him the Heimlich over and over.  
"I...don't...know...what...you're...talking...about!" Bloo gasped out between squeezes.  
"Ease off, asshole!" Frankie shouted, before kicking Yusuke in the groin, causing him to howl in pain.  
"Aw Jesus! The family jewels!" Yusuke shouted, dropping Bloo and holding onto his testicles for dear life.  
"You okay, Bloo?" the brown-haired boy asked.  
"Yeah, I think...oh God...I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS!" Bloo shouted. "MAC, I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS!" he repeated, grabbing the brown-haired boy's shirt.  
"Bloo, you don't HAVE legs." Mac said. "You never did."  
"Oh yeah...I knew that." Bloo said, sheepishly.  
"Okay...so he didn't eat the Spirit Stone...or did he?" Ash asked.  
"I vote that he didn't." Yusuke said weakly.  
"You're just saying that so this woman doesn't divebomb your nuts again." Ash said, his eyes narrowing.  
"Shut it." Yusuke said.  
"Hey Ash..." Osaka spoke up.  
"Yeah?" Ash asked.  
"See if Bloo there'll stand over here with me." Osaka said.  
"You don't have to freakin' ask! Hot Japanese girl, here I come!" Bloo called, before trotting over to Osaka. As he did, the detectives began to notice a drop in energy from the blue imaginary friend.  
"What the...he's getting weaker!" Ash shouted.  
"Just as I thought..." Osaka said, smirking.  
"What's going on?" Yusuke said, his eyes wide.  
"The boy with the pure imagination..." Enma said.  
"Stop being so damn mysterious and just tell me what the fuck's happening!" Ash shouted.  
"Mac and Bloo here, they're the legend of this dimension. The one with the pure imagination who will join four others in order to save the dimensional universe." Enma explained.  
"Wait...all that's going on is SUPPOSED to happen?" Ash said, his eyes wide.  
"It's a legend passed down by the Kamoa. They will find the last Kamoa and, together with him, save the world." Enma said.  
"Last Kamoa?" Ash asked.  
"Like the Eltherians, the Kamoa were wiped out. All but one...he roams one of these dimensions as we speak." Enma explained.  
"So...if he's supposed to save the world, why am I involved?" Ash said.  
"Because you are my Spirit Detective." Enma said. "It's your job."

Meanwhile, back in Pallet Town, Misty had just finished helping Delia with the gardening.  
"Janine called on Ash's spare communicator." Delia commented.  
"Really? Where is she?" Misty asked, excited.  
"She said the place was called Amity Park. Apparently, Ash's next destination is that very same place." Delia explained.  
"With a name like that, I can't help but wonder why Ash would want to go there." Misty said.  
"That must be where the Spirit Stone is..." Delia said.  
"The what?" Misty asked.  
"Nothing..." Delia said, her expression serious. 'Ash, please...don't let Wayne get that stone! We're all counting on you...'  
Suddenly, a large vortex appeared from literally out of nowhere.  
"What the hell?" Misty said.  
"...The Central Dimension!" Delia said, in disbelief.  
The swirling vortex began to flash blue.  
"It's as if it's inviting us in..." Misty said in bewilderment.  
"Of course it is. It's the Central Dimension. It's a safe haven of sorts for poor unfortunate souls who stumble into its rifts." Delia said.  
"Wait...how do YOU know about this thing?" Misty asked, her eyes wide.  
"Because...I didn't come from this dimension."  
"Say WHAT?"

"So...we find this last Kamoa and help him destroy the Spirit Stone?" Ash asked.  
"Find him and help him destroy evil." Enma corrected. "The Spirit Stone is NOT to be destroyed under ANY circumstances."  
"So we just let an object of unimaginable power continue to exist, so other bad guys can try to get their hands on it." Ash said, his eyes narrow.  
"Exactly. Destroy the Spirit Stone, and it might as well be in Wayne's hands, cause the entire universe will be forever screwed if the stone is destroyed." Enma said.  
"Holy SHIT...I had no idea." Ash said, his eyes widening enormously.  
"That's something I don't want spreading. Don't tell anyone outside of this group you have with you currently." Enma warned.

"I came from another location in time and space..." Delia explained.  
"You mean you AREN'T from around here?" Misty said, her eyes wide. "Then where ARE you from?"  
"Try the other side of the world, about nine hundred years from now." Delia said, with a sad smile. "I happened to stumble on the Central Dimension one day. I was eternally seperated from my family and friends...then I met Ash's father." Delia said.  
"Was it here that you met him?" Misty asked.  
"I met him elsewhere. We settled here, and I had Ash...then tragedy struck, and Ash's father died." Delia explained.  
"I'm...I'm sorry to have made you remember such a tragic thing..." Misty said, looking away.  
"No...I wanted to tell you. Now you finally know about Ash's father...and the life I once had." Delia said. "Where did you originally come from?" Misty asked.  
"It doesn't matter." Delia said. "I'll never end up going back. Chances are my family and friends are dead."  
"What makes you think that?" Misty asked.  
"Call it a hunch." Delia said.

"Motoko! Report in!" Wayne ordered. "Any luck on finding that Spirit Stone?"  
"With all due respect, sir..." Motoko spoke, in the raspy, demonic voice, "...It would help if I knew what it looked like."  
"It's a red orb. It's about the size of a baseball." Wayne explained. "Oh, and there should be fire burning inside of it."  
"Very well, sir. I shall double my efforts." Motoko said, before turning off her communicator.  
"Ash...you fool. You and Enma both played your parts perfectly." Wayne said to himself, as he laughed, while looking down at the city of Amity Park.

Meanwhile, back with Ash's group, Botan and Ratty had arrived. They immediately ran over to Riku.  
"Riku, can you hear me?" Botan called.  
"DAYUMN." Ratty said, looking at the numerous scars on Riku, caused by Wayne's secret technique.  
"...Ohh..." Riku moaned, his eyes slowly opening.  
"Hey there." Ash said, now through talking to Enma. "You gonna be okay?"  
"I'll live." Riku said. "Even though you accidentally sent him into Amity Park, you put up one hell of a fight against Wayne without any intent to kill him. Not bad, Ash." he complimented.  
"Heh, thanks. I do have a question for you, though." Ash said.  
"Fire away. I can't walk away to dodge answering any questions you have anyway..." Riku said, as Botan and Ratty began healing him.  
"You and Wayne...how did you guys know about where Amity Park is?" Ash asked.  
"We knew all along. Wayne was just leading you and Lord Enma on." Riku said.  
"Just as I feared." Ash said. "I somehow knew you were gonna answer with that..."  
"So, that's it? No questions about how I managed to disable you momentarily back when we first met?" Riku asked, with a snicker, then he groaned, feeling pain as Botan and Ratty kept healing his wounds.  
"If he's not askin' that, I will." Ratty said. "How'd ya LEARN to do that?"  
"Taught myself." Riku said.  
"No shit?" Ratty asked.  
"No shit." Riku said. "Now I have a question for Osaka."  
"Shoot." Osaka said.  
"Did Janine Williams teach you to use Spirit Energy?" Riku asked.  
"Yeah, that's right." Osaka said.  
Ash growled, hearing Janine's name. "That traitor..."  
"If it's any consolation to you, she's not a traitor. She just wants to save Wayne." Riku said.  
"...I know..." Ash said, slowly. "I just wish she would have told me the truth about her relation to Wayne from the beginning. I can only imagine what horrors are taking place in Amity Park right now." he continued, as he started to imagine Wayne destroying the town utterly, how not even the hero that Enma told him about, the boy from his dream, Danny, could save the city. As he imagined, Frankie spoke up.  
"You may not wanna imagine the devastation!" she shouted, but it was too late. Suddenly, a large black blob appeared in midair, and sprouted arms, legs, a mouth, and two antannae. It was an enormous Nightmare.  
"Oh shit. Where did that come from?" Ash said.  
"I'd have to guess YOU created this thing, Ash." Yusuke said. "You know, the whole 'manifestation of your imagination' thing?"  
"Oh, yeah." Ash said, grinning sheepishly. "My bad."  
"So it's three times our size...we'll take it down!" Jenny said, before charging the beast. However, she was in for a surprise. The large beast opened its mouth and spat a black blob at her, which immediately became stringy and wound itself around her.  
"HEY!" she shouted, as the black blob quickly restrained her. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?"  
"Don't let it devour you...imaginary or not, it'll send you to a place called the Nightmare Dimension..." Riku said, his eyes wide.  
"You heard the man!" Ash said to Yusuke.  
"Uh...hello? I'm kinda unable to defend myself here!" Jenny called, struggling furiously.  
"Have ya free in a few, Jen!" Yusuke called out, as he ran over to Jenny and grabbed ahold of some of the material , then immediately let go with a yelp, and pulled his now-burned hands back. To his horror, he could hear the sound of something sizzling. He looked down and noticed Jenny had smoke rising from her.  
"JESUS! WHAT IS THAT STUFF?" Yusuke shouted.  
"It's acidic!" Enma's voice came from the communicator. "Don't let it hit you!"  
"Gee, good advice." Ash said, his eyes narrowing as he barely managed to dodge another acidic glob from the giant Nightmare.  
The Nightmare then jumped, and lifted its legs, dropping to the ground and causing a large tremor to occur. Ash, Yusuke, Botan, Ratty, Osaka, Frankie, Mac, and Bloo were sent to the floor from the force of its impact with the ground.  
"This is gonna have ta end soon!" Osaka said. "I dunno how much more of that kinda impact this mall can take!"  
"Osaka, can you get it to swallow one of your attacks?" Ash asked.  
"Why?" Osaka asked.  
"We're gonna get 'baked potato in a microwave' on this thing's ass!" Ash shouted, with a toothy grin.  
"Lessee..." Osaka said, deep in thought for a split second, before deciding to use her Spirit Flare attack. "SPIRIT FLARE!" she shouted, forming a red ball in her hand and chucking it into the giant Nightmare's open mouth. Everyone looked on in suspense, as the Nightmare began to light up from within.  
"Come on..." Ash said.  
"Why the hell is that thing glowing?" Bloo asked, apparently not paying attention.  
"Have you not paid attention the whole time?" Mac asked, his eyes narrow.  
"Eh, I don't really care." Bloo said, shrugging.  
After a few minutes, it became obvious that the Nightmare had increased in size. It was bloating.  
"Try doing it again, Osaka!" Ash shouted.  
"You got it!" Osaka replied, firing up another Spirit Flare and throwing it into the mindless creature's still-open mouth. As everyone waited, the creature bloated up even more, before finally exploding into a million flying gobs of black...stuff, which covered the mall.  
"Well, this mall is ruined...that Nightmare goo is probably acidic too." Yusuke said, his eyes narrow.  
"No, if it was, you and everyone else would be melting by now." came Enma's voice, as he pointed out that everyone was indeed covered in what Yusuke had affectionately dubbed "Nightmare Goo".  
"Oh, GROSS." Frankie said. "I just had this skirt dry-cleaned!"  
"Cool, I'm all black and stuff!" Bloo exclaimed.  
"WILL SOMEONE FREAKING UNTIE ME ALREADY?" Jenny screamed.  
"Oh, sorry about that." Ash said, from underneath a mountain of Nightmare goo. He walked over, and, using the Rift Sword, slashed Jenny's acidic bindings.  
"Thanks, Ash." Jenny said, stretching her arms.  
"Well, now that we've got that aside..." Enma brushed his shirt off, though he'd not really done anything. "Riku."  
"Yo?"  
"Now that you've shown us the way to Amity Park, I cannot allow you to continue on with Ash and the gang." Riku sat straight up and gave Enma a stink eye when he heard this.  
"Why the fuck not?" Riku said, pissed. "This is my shot at Wayne!" Enma just shook his head.  
"This is not about you killing him. Nobody is going to kill Wayne..."  
"You don't under--"  
"Don't feed me that, I don't give a shit what he's done to you. You know good and well there's a man behind Wayne. That is who you will get your hands on. Until then, you obey what I say and do as you're told. Understood?" Everyone was silent for a moment. When Riku spoke, it looked as though he was forcing himself to say the words.  
"Yes sir."  
"Good. Now, you and Ms. Kasuga will come to me in Spirit World, where I will hand out your Punishments for your past crimes." Surprisingly, Ratty snickered when Enma said this. Enma just stared at him, and Ratty shut up, trying to act like nothing had happened. Ash was curious.  
"Ratty, wha-" Ash started, but was shortly cut off by Enma.  
"Never you mind." Wayne cleared his throat. "Kasuga, Riku, a rift for you will be opening shortly. Use it. It will bring you directly to my throne, as did the one in the...umm...well, you know. Enma out." Enma's face disappeared off of the communicator, and before anyone had a chance to ask about Ratty's little outburst, the Rift opened up directly below Riku and Osaka, causing them to fall into the Rift.  
"Enma you bastard..." Riku's voice echoed off. Everyone else was now looking down into the rift.  
"He must be feeling it today..." Jenny voiced her thoughts. Botan just shook her head.  
"Well, whatever." She said before diving headfirst into the rift, giving everyone a very good look up her kimono. Ash and Ratty, of course, were the ones to bluntly point this out.  
"Dayumn!" Ratty said. "What an ASS!"  
"Yeah, I know." Ash said. Him and Ratty with matching nosebleeds. "And she doesn't even wear panties under there!"  
"No shit?" Ratty looked over at Ash, a perverted grin on his face. "Did you see her..." Ratty didn't get to finish what he said, because Jenny's hard metal fist knocked him face first into the rift.  
"Ooooohhhhh...SNAP!" Ratty's voice too echoed off, and the Rift closed right behind him. Jenny was now giving Ash the 'You're next, pal.' Look. Ash responded to this halfway innocently.  
"What? She's got a nice one..." Ash said. Everyone else just sighed, before Enma came back up on the Wrist Communicator.  
"Now that that's out of the way, you all will need to be finding the Rift that leads to the Dimensional Elevator." Ash lifted his wrist up on level with his face.  
"And that would be where, your majesty?" Ash feeling the need to be sarcastic for no apparent reason.  
"It would be at an Establishment known as Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends, Royal Court Jester." Enma countered Ash's sarcasm, and answered the question at the same time.  
"Oh, I know where that is." Frankie spoke up, everyone turning to look at her. "That's where I work. Come on, I'll take you all there." She beckoned for everyone to follow. Mac and Bloo did immediatly, talking about this and that as they went, and everyone else shortly behind. Ash turned his communicator off, and walked near the back, wondering what this 'Fosters' place could be.

"Ash, dammit, don't turn this thing off when I'm still talking!" Enma was yelling at a blank screen. Riku and Osaka just sighed.  
"Actually, Enma..." Riku said. "You WERE finished." Enma just turned around and gave Riku the stink eye.  
"Oh, hush you." Enma sighed and turned to them in his chair. "Osaka, you're dismissed. Sleep well." Osaka bowed as the Emperor of Spirit World finished.  
"Thank ya." She walked off. Right before she dissapeared around the corner, Riku made a very small motion with his hand. He quickly waved to her, barely, and almost nobody saw.  
"Taken a liking to her?" Enma sniggered, Riku turned around, somewhat red.  
"Of course not!"  
"Heh, whatever." Enma snickered again as Ratty walked up behind him, and sat down on the Desk, beside him.  
"'Sup, bitches?" Ratty said as he sort of lay on the desk, not tired, so much as lazy.  
"Evening, Rattabald." Enma said lowly. Ratty gave him the death glare.  
"Never use my real name, fool!" Ratty snarled. "It's RATTY! DAYUMN!"  
"Yeah, yeah, I hear you." Enma rolled his eyes, before placing them back on Riku. "Now, Riku, it's time to get to the matter of your punishment." This comment evidentilly caused a spark in Ratty. The small furry critter jumped up and had a large grin on his...snout-like face.  
"Hell yeah!"  
"Hmm? What, is it that bad?" Riku seemed curious. Enma laughed.  
"You've no idea." He had his hand under his desk. Quickly, he pulled it out, causing Riku's face to go comically pale.  
"You're shitting me..." Riku said with disbelief. But was met with no Sympathy from Enma or Ratty, as they both nodded that this was the affirmative punishment.

As the bus pulled up to Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Ash, Jenny, and Yusuke stared in awe. The house was, to put it simply, BIG.  
"Good...god..." Yusuke said.  
"Yeah, we get that a lot." Frankie said.  
"What are we standing around for?" Ash asked.  
"Maybe cause Enma didn't reveal the location of the rift inside of the house?" Jenny asked, her eyes comically narrowed.  
"That's a good reason." Ash said, sporting an 'Oro' expression on his face.  
"It should be on the roof." Enma spoke up, from the communicator. "Do not leave the dimension without taking Mac and Bloo with you, Ash."  
"Right." Ash said. "Mac, Bloo, the Dimensional Universe needs your help."  
"Do we get to hit stuff?" Bloo asked.  
"Oh yeah." Ash said, smirking. "And beat things until they stop thinking conscious thoughts."  
"SWEET!" Bloo shouted.  
"I dunno...I do have a mom, ya know." Mac said. "I don't think she'd let me go, and I don't want to leave her."  
Enma was about to interject, but he was surprised by what happened before he could. Ash suddenly looked down, and spoke in a serious tone.  
"Mac...I have a mom too. She's all I have. And if she knew the line of work I was in, she'd never let me do what I do."  
"Really?" Mac asked.  
"Yeah. Well, I have a girlfriend, but, y'know...I'm talking about current family." Ash said. "My dad's been dead for six years. Mom and I were there for each other through it all...then I started my journey back whenever I was a young, naive ten year old. A journey which came to a halt when I met the very man inside that mall. I'll never forget his cold voice telling me what he'd done to Pallet Town..."

(In flashback.)

Just then, the phone rang. Ash ran over and picked it up.  
"Hello"  
A disguised voice greeted him. The screen turned on to reveal a man covered in shadow.  
"Yeah. Hi. Did you get the message?"  
"Who are you?"  
"The guy who's responsible for bombing Pallet Town. Duh."  
"Where are my mom and Brock?"  
"How the hell would I know? We were never around your house."  
"Why did you bomb those houses?"  
"A message, obviously. Note that they're all forming an--"  
"Yeah, I know. An R."  
"It means 'Do NOT screw with us'."  
"Well, you made a really stupid mistake. You bombed my town. I'm not going to screw with you. I'm going to hunt down and beat every last one of you!"  
"Fool. Don't waste your life. You're still young. You have so much that you could still do with your life...ah, what do I care? If you want to die, come to the World Martial Arts Tournament in one month. I'll be waiting...mwa ha ha..." the voice said ominously, and then the line went dead.

(Cue different flashback.)

"YOU'RE Wayne?" Ash asked the now-smirking champion.  
"My, how the mighty have fallen." the boy said, ignoring Ash and walking over to Butch, before kicking him repeatedly in the abdomen.  
"You let THIS little shit beat you?" he said, looking over toward Ash.  
"Wayne..." Butch said, weakly.  
"I thought you said your name was Jonathan!" Ash said, in shock.  
"It IS my name. My MIDDLE name. My first name, well...you know it now. I'M the one who bombed Pallet Town. Of course, I couldn't have done it without help from my partner, as much as I hate to admit that she did ANYTHING useful." Wayne said, smirking.  
"She?" Ash exclaimed.  
"That's right, my partner...Janine." Wayne said, as he grinned evilly.  
All of Ash's group looked over at Janine in shock, except for Misty, who looked with hatred. "I KNEW you couldn't be trusted!" Misty shouted.  
"..." Janine remained silent, looking away.

(Cue different flashback.)

Wayne looked over at Ash, who raised his right index finger.  
"What the hell...!" Wayne exclaimed, before a tiny blue orb appeared in front of Ash's finger, and he screamed, "SPIRIT GUN!"  
"Hu--AAUGH!" Wayne shouted, as the blast connected and sent him flying over the edge of the hospital.  
"That was easy." Ash said as he turned around, not noticing that Wayne had grabbed the protective railing on the edge of the hospital rooftop and heaved himself back onto safe ground. The villain then raised his left index finger, and announced that he was still alive.  
"'That all you got?" Wayne asked, smirking. "I have an attack of my own. I think you'll be shocked at the similarity of this move to yours."  
Ash's eyes widened as he turned around slowly, and noticed a purple orb, roughly the same size as his own orb, appearing in front of Wayne's extended finger.  
"Devil Gun." he said calmly, firing a purple spirit "bullet" at Ash, which whizzed by him as he scrambled to the left.  
"Ha ha! Your aim sucks!" Ash exclaimed, as his face comically grew to twice its normal size and he laughed.

(Cue last flashback.)

As Wayne was led out of the now-nearly destroyed mansion by the local Officer Jenny, he looked back at Ash, who grinned as he waved. He responded with a snarl.  
"Mark my words, Ash Ketchum. This is NOT over, and you have NOT seen the last of me!" Wayne snarled.  
"Tell it to the judge, punkass." Officer Jenny said, slamming her nightstick into Wayne's abdomen and causing him to dry heave for a few seconds.  
"Feel free to break outta jail anytime! I'll be happy to beat the hell outta you again any day of the week!" Ash called after him.

(End flashbacks.)

Ash continued to speak to Mac about Wayne, and the importance of stopping him. "I know if I had been alone...I wouldn't have beaten Wayne any of the times I've fought him so far. If he gets his hands on the Spirit Stone, he's going to destroy every last human on the face of the planet, in all dimensions. He actually succeeded in destroying one dimension already. Mac, everyone you love and cherish will be forfeit if you don't help us."  
As Ash finished, Frankie wiped a solitary tear from her eye.  
"Wow...just...wow. I had no idea he was THAT dangerous. I thought he was just full of hot air, considering how easily you beat him back." Mac said.  
"No, he let me beat him there. If he wanted to waste me at that point, he could have easily done so." Ash said.  
"Come on, Mac! We get to kick bad guy butt!" Bloo said. "...Okay, I'm in." Mac said.  
"YES!" Bloo cheered.  
"Good to have both of you aboard." Ash said. "Now Enma, you said it was on the roof?"  
"If you don't believe me, use the Rift Locator." Enma said.  
Ash nodded, and reached into his jacket, but as he did, intense pain began to course through his body, and he groaned, dropping to one knee.  
"Ash!" Jenny and Yusuke said simultaneously, rushing to their comrade.  
"Good god...what happened...!" Ash said to himself.  
Jenny slowly lifted his shirt, to reveal numerous bruises along Ash's chest and abdomen.  
"What the hell?" Jenny exclaimed.  
"See what I told you, Mac...?" Ash said. "Wayne must have done this while we were fighting."  
"Then how can we possibly hope to beat him? You didn't even know he did anything to you until now!" Mac said.  
"Easy. We get the Spirit Stone before he does." Ash said. "Just cause he's in Amity Park doesn't mean he automatically has the stone."  
"You have a point, Ash..." Enma said. "Maybe you can do something after all."  
"Yusuke, see if you can pull the RIft Locator from my inner jacket pocket." Ash said.  
"Okay..." Yusuke said, reaching carefuly, so as not to upset Ash's wounds. He slowly wrapped his hand around the device inside his pocket, and carefully removed it.  
"It's about time we used this thing again." Jenny remarked.  
Yusuke turned it on, and an automated voice said, "Welcome to the Rift Locator 1.0. There is a rift to the north, approximately five stories up. Thank you for using the Rift Locator 1.0."  
"Weird, it didn't do that before." Ash said. "Maybe Jimmy programmed several rift-finding modes into it."  
"Probably." Jenny said. "Let's get up to that rooftop then!" she added, before two sleek, blue, metallic "wings", with jet engines attached to each of them, emerged from her back.  
"You could just take the..." Frankie started, but was cut off by Bloo.  
"Oh sure, let's go through the house and waste precious minutes where I could be putting my foot in this Wayne guy's ass!" he said.  
"Just grab onto the wings. We're taking off for the rooftop, now!" Jenny said. Ash, Yusuke, Mac, and Bloo did exactly as Jenny said, and the five of them blasted off toward the rooftop.  
"O...kay. I was gonna say take the outside elevator we just installed, but whatever..." Frankie said to herself, right before the remaining three friends, who were previously inside the Foster's bus, exited said bus. One of them was tall and red, and looked somewhat like he was made just for playing basketball. The second was a large, purple, shaggy monster with horns, and wearing gray, long pants, held up by a belt with a skull-shaped belt buckle. The last one was smaller, but looked weirder than the other two combined. Its head looked like a houseplant, it had a long, zig-zaggy bird beak for a mouth, a small airplane for a body, and two long, bird-like legs.  
"Coco co coco!" the bird/airplane/plant friend asked, apparently only being able to say the word "Coco.  
"I don't know, Coco, but that Ash kid...was kinda cute." Frankie said, smiling.  
"Coco co co coco!" Coco sang, apparently meaning to say, in a singsong voice, "Frankie's got a boyfriend!"  
"Si, si!" the purple friend spoke up, mockingly, "Frankie has a boyfriend!"  
"Can it, Eduardo." Frankie said, her eyes narrowing.  
"Can I join in?" the tall friend asked.  
"No, Wilt. Everyone get in the house and board everything shut. Looks like we're gonna go through hell if those kids can't save us all." Frankie said.

"Question." Mac said, as they landed in front of the rift.  
"Yes?" Ash asked.  
"Why did we fly up here when we could've just used the outside elevator?" Mac asked. Everyone looked over at the elevator and gaped.  
"We have an outside elevator! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!" Bloo shouted.  
"You were there when it was built!" Mac countered, his eyes narrow.  
"Was I?" Bloo asked.  
"You told ME about it!" Mac said.  
"DID I?" Bloo asked, his eyes narrowing in thought.  
"Can we just hurry up and jump in?" Jenny said, impatiently.  
"Fine, fine." Mac and Bloo said, simultaneously.  
The five then leaped in at the exact same time. As they fell through the rift, Mac and Bloo looked on in awe.  
"This is amazing!" Mac said. "How long have you been able to do this?"  
"A few months, now." Ash said.  
"So, where are we going again?" Mac asked.  
"The Dimensional Elevator." Ash explained. "There are apparently eight worlds connected to it. One of them is Amity Park."

Delia returned to the garden, after checking on the meal she had been fixing for her and Misty. She was shocked, however, to find that the Central Dimension rift wasn't there anymore. She was horrified to see Misty's gardening equipment laying where she had been standing, as well.  
"...No...!" Delia said.

As the door closed behind her, Misty noticed that she was now in a crystalline, octagonal room, with pillars made of the same material she was standing on. She also noticed seven other doors, each with labels on them. The two nearest to her said "Mushiyori City" and "Crab Nebula". The others, from left to right, read as follows:  
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends Kyoto Central Amity Park Kamoa Capitol "Amity Park?" she said, looking at the door marked with those exact words. "Didn't Delia say that's where Ash was going?"  
Before she could react, though, she heard voices as the door to Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends swung open. She smiled over at the first person to emerge from the door. It was Ash.  
"Ash?" she said.  
Ash's eyes widened so much, that his new friends thought they were gonna roll right out of their sockets.  
"...MISTY!" Ash exclaimed. "What the hell are you doing here?"  
"Misty...?" Jenny asked, then exclaimed "YOUR GIRLFRIEND?"  
"That would be her." Ash said.  
"Please, don't be mad...I had to see you." Misty said.  
"...Just go back to Pallet Town." Ash said. "You don't want to follow me, trust me. Things are about to get extremely ugly. You may not like anything I end up doing in this next place."  
"Amity Park, right?" Misty asked.  
"How did you...!" Ash exclaimed, his eyes wide.  
"Ash...I know everything. I know you're a Spirit Detective." Misty admitted.  
"Y...you knew?" Ash said.  
"I know. And I'm very proud of you, putting your life on the line to make sure that no innocent people die." Misty said, walking across the room and wrapping her arms around him.  
"I've...I've missed you, Misty..." Ash said, smiling warmly, as he returned her hug.  
"It's a Kodak moment and all..." Yusuke said, "But shouldn't we be stopping Wayne?"  
"Wayne's behind all of this?" Misty asked, as she and Ash seperated.  
"Sort of. He's got something controlling him." Ash said. "For your sake, I'm not gonna say what I'm gonna do to that thing out loud when I get ahold of whatever it is. I don't want you seeing that. That's why you need to go right back through the door you came out of. I don't want you to get hurt. Cause if you follow me, I can't guarantee I'll be able to protect you."  
"...I understand. I'll go back, but first...who are your new friends?" Misty asked.  
"The robot girl is Jenny, she's been with me since my first trip through the dimensional rifts." Ash said.  
"Pleased to meet you." Jenny said, extending her hand for a shake, which Misty obliged.  
"The guy in the jeans and red jacket is Yusuke. He trained me for a month when we got to Mushiyori City." Ash said.  
"Mushiyori City?" Misty asked. "That's one of the names on these doors."  
"No shit?" Yusuke asked, eyes wide.  
"The kid and blue guy are Mac and Bloo." Ash said. "They just joined us at Foster's."  
"Hey." Mac waved.  
"'Sup?" Bloo asked, his eyes narrowing suavely.  
"Hi." Misty said, waving. As she turned around, she said "Give 'em hell, Ash."  
"You betcha." Ash said, smirking, before running over to the door leading to Amity Park, the others aside from Misty following suit.  
"This is it, guys. Amity Park." Ash said.  
"Finally." Jenny said.  
"Let's kick some ass!" Yusuke exclaimed.  
Ash then grabbed the door and pulled it open. The five heroes fell into the rift. Misty watched them go, before walking over to the door. However, the door was not the one she'd entered. It was the one leading to Central.  
"Sorry Ash...can't go home yet. Maybe I can find something to help you out." she said.

After a few minutes of falling, Ash started to doze off, as one final dream occured in his head. He, Danny, and Jazz had just slain his lookalike. As they stood over his corpse, it dissolved. Jazz seemed a little on edge.  
"What's wrong?" Ash asked.  
"I'm a little scared..." Jazz admitted.  
"Why? We just kicked this guy's ass!" Danny said, looking over at the only female member of the three.  
"What if there's an endless amount of these things, though?" Jazz said. "When I think of it like that, I can't help but be scared!"  
"Don't worry..." Ash said, wrapping his arms around her, and pulling her into an embrace.  
"I'll protect you." he said. As the image began to fade, he repeated those words.  
"I'll protect you..."

Ash awoke from his small nap just in time to see the dimensional matter fade, and a nighttime sky appear, as they exited the rift.  
"I just had another dream of them..." Ash said.  
"Really..." Jenny muttered. "Well, you can meet Danny once we land and find him."  
"Why are we so far up?" Mac asked, his eyes wide.  
"That's the way these things are." Yusuke said. "They always dump you in the middle of the sky."  
"AAH! Mac and Bloo shouted, before being grabbed by Jenny as they fell.  
As they fell, Ash blinked. He saw a girl they were rapidly descending toward. For a split second, he thought she looked like...no, it couldn't be, he told himself mentally.  
"INCOMING! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Jenny screamed down to the solitary girl who looked up with wide eyes. The girl screamed and ran a few feet away, as the five heroes crashed into the street. The girl ran back toward them, her eyes wide with panic.  
"Oh my God! Are you all right?" she asked.  
"Yeah, this happens more than you may reali--" Ash started to say, but he was cut off as he saw who ran over to them.  
"Oh my God...it's you..." Ash said.  
It was indeed the same person he thought he had seen as he fell. The same long, red hair. The same blue eyes. The same black, long sweater. And the same blue capri pants. It was Jazz.

Author's note:Dustin here. FINALLY. Season 1 is FINISHED. And Ash has found Jazz. What will happen next season? Stay tuned!


	25. Welcome to Amity Park

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 25 

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke. 

Disclaimer:We own no one, aside from Janine, Wayne, and Riku. All other characters are copyrighted to their respective owners. With that said, on with the story!

Ash blinked once, twice, three times, but still, the image didn't fade. He was looking at the very same girl that had been in his dreams...the mysterious girl known in his mind only as Jazz. He stared on, and her left eyebrow raised, showing that she was getting a little freaked out at his wordless, relentless staring.  
"Somebody say something..." Bloo muttered.  
"No kidding. I'm starting to get a backache." Yusuke said, as Ash still hadn't gotten off of his back.  
"I'm...going over there now." Jazz said. "FAR over there."  
"Wait!" Ash cried. "I know you! I've seen you in my dreams!"  
This line simply caused her eyes to narrow in boredom.  
"That was a really lame pickup line." she said.  
Ash stood there for a second, before his eyes actually crossed and he shouted at the top of his lungs. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? I'M HAPPILY DATING SOMEBODY ALREADY!"  
"Alright, alright...geez...I think my ears are bleeding." Jazz complained.  
"I didn't mean to yell...okay, yeah, I DID mean to, but I literally saw you in my dreams." Ash said.  
"..." Jazz stood threre, eyeing Ash for a second, before speaking up. "Well, you don't APPEAR to have any head trauma."  
"Oh believe me, it's there." Jenny spoke up, grinning. "Ash fights a lot."  
"A walking, talking robot girl...eh, what the hell." Jazz said, her eyes once again narrowing in boredom. "Anyway...your name is Ash?"  
"Yeah, and yours is Jazz. Or at least, it was in my dreams." Ash explained, finally getting offf of his friends' backs.  
"THANK YOU GOD!" Bloo shouted.  
"How did you know my name?" Jazz said, her eyes narrowing. Ash couldn't tell if this was from fear, anger, or suspicion. Maybe a combination of them? He had no idea.  
"Like I've been saying for the past few minutes...I had a series of dreams. In them, you, me, and this other kid were battling some sort of shadow version of me." Ash explained. "Maybe you know this other kid. My boss tells me he lives here in Amity Park." Ash said.  
"Your...boss...?" Jazz questioned, her left eyebrow once again raised.  
"It's a long story. Know anywhere we can talk in private?" Ash asked.  
"The little bit of info you've given me is somewhat intriguing. There's a fast food restaurant called the Nasty Burger, just down the street. We can talk behind the dumpsters."  
"Gotcha. Guys, and Jenny, let's go!" Ash ordered.  
"Hey!" Jazz exclaimed.  
"See, when I said that, I was referring to MY group." Ash explained.  
"Oh."

"Come in, Plasmius." came Wayne's voice, now much more calm than the last time Ash had seen him. The half-man, half-ghost known as Plasmius switched on the screen to his communicator, to be greeted by Wayne's smirking face.  
"You look pleased with yourself." Plasmius said nonchalantly.  
"I am. I've figured out when and where I'm going to make Riku pay for his betrayal." Wayne answered, the smirk growing in size as he finished.  
"You go ahead and do that, then. I'll take care of Ash Ketchum and his little friends." Plasmius said.  
"How do you propose to do that?" Wayne asked.  
"I can easily reach the Fenton Portal without being seen. All I have to do is overshadow one of the Fentons and open the portal. Then I'll smash the controls and keep it open so every ghost Danny Phantom has ever fought will come back out _en masse_! By the time Ash and friends finish fighting those ghosts, they'll be far too tired to fight me!" Plasmius explained, finishing with an evil laugh.  
"You're going to let every ghost in the Ghost Zone do your dirty work for you, then." Wayne summarized, with a bored expression on his face.  
"Why not? You've been doing that this whole time with Riku and your other lackeys." Plasmius explained, and suddenly, Wayne's expression turned deathly serious.  
"I NEVER needed them. I've been able to do this mission myself the entire time. They were just pawns." Wayne said, an angry look on his face. "Just take care of Ketchum. Don't even worry about his friends. If you do this, then I PROMISE to spare the life of Maddie Fenton when I execute my plan. I am a man of my word, if nothing else." he continued.  
"Like you kept your word to Vexus, or that Urashima girl?" Plasmius asked. Wayne's face then got angrier.  
"Do NOT push me, Vlad Masters. If you do, I'll just forget that I said anything and spare nobody, not even you." Wayne said. "Do what I said or the deal's off!" he finished with a shout, as the screen turned off suddenly.  
"I'm afraid I'm making a few changes to this deal, Wayne..." Plasmius said, a smirk across his face as he held out a baseball-sized red orb, with fire burning inside of it.

Meanwhile, the gang, plus Jazz, had gone behind the Nasty Burger to talk.  
"So, that's basically the story." Ash said. "I might have skimped on a few details."  
"Thanks to his marvelously short attention span." Mac added with a grin, before Ash's fist prodded the top of his head with slight force, causing him pain.  
"Shut it." Ash muttered.  
"So you're all from parellel universes?" Jazz asked, wide-eyed.  
"Well, Mac and Bloo are from the same universe." Ash said.  
"And we kick the most ass." Bloo added.

"You haven't had a chance to kick ass, nimrod." Yusuke remarked. "You just joined us before we got here, remember?"  
"Yeah, but I fell first." Bloo countered. "That makes me the coolest."  
"Whatever." Yusuke said, bored with arguing with the weird little blue blob-thing.  
"This is...fantastic! I didn't expect there to be other dimensions aside from the one we're in now, but you all are living proof!" Jazz said, then looked around for a second and slapped her head. "Duh. The Ghost Zone"  
"The WHAT Zone?" Ash asked, his eyebrows arched.  
"Nothing!" Jazz said, grinning sheepishly. "Do you have a place to stay"  
"That's a VERY good question." Jenny remarked. "We don't know if that rift is already open or if it'll take some time TO open."

"Actually, it won't open for another month." came the familiar voice of Enma.  
"Shit, a whole MONTH!" Ash said. "Well, then, looks like we DO need a roof over our heads. Okay, here's the plan. Mac, you open a freakshow with Bloo as the main attraction. Yusuke, you go into male prostitution. Jenny, you find a job in the welding industry. We have precious little time"  
"Or you can shut up and let me tell you about where you'll be staying." Enma said,then started to explain their living arrangements, but then noticed Jazz among the group.  
"I see you found her." Enma said. "We finally found her profile."  
"Do tell." Ash said.  
"Jasmine Fenton, age sixteen." Enma said, and Ash motioned for him to stop.  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa..." he said, turning to Jazz. "Your last name is Fenton?"  
"Guilty as charged." Jazz said, grinning sheepishly.  
"That 'semi-superhero' who lives here...didn't you say his last name was also Fenton?"  
"Danny Fenton." Enma said.  
"That was the other guy in my dreams." Ash said to Jazz. "Since you both have the same last name, I assume you know him."  
"He's my little brother." Jazz explained, then went on to say "Eh...semi-superhero?"  
"You know, the whole ghost powers thing?" Ash said, causing Jazz's eyes to widen just a tad, before she put on a cheesy grin and said "You must have the wrong Danny Fenton."  
"There's only one living in Amity Park. Your brother." Enma explained, nonchalantly, causing Jazz's eyes to go beady in an anime-style as her mouth hung open. She had been dumbstruck at this.  
"You can't pull the wool over the eyes of the third-highest authority figure in the dimensional universe, sweetie." Enma said, in an 'I have you now' voice. "I'm also aware that YOU know his secret. See this file right here?" he asked, holding up a file, which read 'Fenton, Jasmine, Age:16' on the front. The picture on the page that popped up after he opened the file was of the expression she'd just given. "Real up-to-date stuff in here, Jasmine. Let's see...height, weight, top secret stuff. Ooh! The location of your birthmark!" Enma continued.  
"DON'T YOU DARE SAY WHERE IT IS!" Jazz screamed at the top of her lungs.  
"Oh please, do you really think I'd do something so perverted?" he continued, before tripping on something, as the page conveniently turned, revealing a picture of Jazz's birthmark. "RATTY! DAMN IT!" Enma shouted, from off-screen.  
"DON'T LOOK AT IT!" she screamed.  
The guys, minus Ash, looked on in amazement, before Yusuke finally shouted "WHOO-HOO! Thank you, sensual birthmark locations!", then got slapped by Jenny.  
"Is that...a female's...?" Mac stuttered out.  
"Yes!" Bloo shouted. "Savor this moment for the rest of our lives, my friend."  
"I don't get it." Ash said, shrugging. "It's just her thigh."  
"Yeah, but that's close enough to get a snapshot of..." Yusuke started to say, before he noticed a murderous gleam in the redhead's eyes. "...NOT her ass." he continued, turning away, looking sickly.  
"Still not getting it." Ash said.  
Jazz's face reddened extremely, as she said "He's not very bright, is he?"  
"What was your first clue?" Jenny asked, a bored expression appearing on her face. "It probably doesn't help that he thinks he's stoned half the time." she added.  
"STILL nothing." Ash said, before Jazz, still blushing like mad, put her hand over the picture and screamed "YOU CAN STOP LOOKING ANY TIME NOW!"  
"I was bored with it, anyway." Ash said, a bored expression on his face currently.  
"I am SO SORRY about that." Enma said, as he finally re-appeared, removing the picture, then saying "It's safe to look now."  
Jazz finally took her hand off of the screen.  
"Fingerprints!" Enma said, turning the page again, revealing a copy of Jazz's thumb print.  
"Wow, you DO know everything about me. Okay, YES, I know my brother's half-ghost." she admitted.  
"And now that THAT is out of the way...Ash, I've called in a favor." Enma said. "Someone owed me something. Something BIG. So I had him agree to pay your utilities, as well as buy an apartment complex across the street from the Fentons." he went on to explain.  
"I guess that mean we're gonna be neighbours." Jazz said, looking over at Jenny, before both narrowed their eyes and grinned at each other, then simultaneously screamed "GIRL'S NIGHT!"  
"I'll pop the popcorn! I have a built-in popcorn maker!" Jenny said.  
"I'll get the movies!" Jazz responded, giddily.  
"Make sure they're tear-jerkers!" Jenny added.  
"We can watch them in my room, away from my crackpot parents!" Jazz finished, as the two walked off, talking a mile a minute as they did so.  
"Looks like THEY'VE hit it off." Yusuke said.  
"As long as I don't hear girlish squealing when I'm trying to sleep, I don't give a shit." Ash said, shrugging.  
"Hey, maybe Jenny'll sleep over there tonight." Yusuke said, his eyes narrowing slyly.  
"Maybe. Why?" Ash asked, confused.  
Suddenly, his eyes narrowed slyly as well, and he and Yusuke grinned, before shouting at the top of their lungs, though not in-sync, "GUY'S NIGHT!"  
"I'll get the Big Gulps and the nachos!" Yusuke said.  
"I'll get the giant monster movies!" Ash exclaimed.  
"Make SURE they involve Tokyo's destruction in some way, shape, or form!" Yusuke said sternly.  
"Can we watch too?" Mac and Bloo asked simultaneously.  
"NO!" Ash and Yusuke responded, this time being perfectly in-sync.  
"Damn!" Bloo exclaimed.  
"If you all are finished..." Enma said, his eyes narrowing comically.  
"Can'ttalkgottagobye!" Ash said, his voice surpassing light speed as he turned off the communicator, then he and Yusuke re-emerged on the streets of Amity Park, leaving Mac and Bloo alone in the alley.  
"..." Bloo looked on wordlessly.  
"They totally ditched us!" Mac said.  
"Yep..." Bloo said, nonchalantly, then after a brief pause, he spoke up again "Find the house we're gonna be living in for the next month?"  
"Find the house we're gonna be living in for the next month." Mac agreed.

As Jenny and Jazz walked back toward the latter's house, a strange, blue man in overalls, with a toboggan on his head, floated above them, in a sinister fashion. "Beware..." he said, to nobody in particular, " For I am...THE BOX GHOST! My power over all things cardboard and square will flatten you!"  
"Did you hear something?" Jenny asked.  
"Nope." Jazz answered, as they continued on their merry way.  
"Curses! Foiled again!" the Box Ghost shouted.  
"Don't you EVER take a break!" came a voice all-too-familiar to the Box Ghost. He turned, with an evil grin, to face his nemesis, the boy that was in Ash's dreams...Amity Park's local half-ghost savior, Danny Phantom.  
"Seriously, I'm starting to get tired of chasing you around. Can you just go ahead and call it a night for once? Please!" Danny asked.  
"I AM THE BOX GHOST!" the Box Ghost shouted in response.  
"Didn't think so." Danny said, sporting a bored expression on his face, before mercilessly wailing on the Box Ghost.

"Man, Big Gulps rule!" Yusuke said.  
"Totally!" Ash agreed, then added "And they even have those kinds where you can get THREE drinks in ONE cup! How badass is THAT?" he said, an enormous grin on his face.  
"I'm sure when I rip out the divider, it'll be even more badass." Yusuke said. "Sprite, Coke, AND Mr.Pibb!"

"I don't see why you didn't just get Dr.Pepper." Ash said, shrugging as he continued "I mean, they both taste the same to me."  
"...I don't trust drinks with the word 'Pepper' in them." Yusuke said slowly, as if someone were listening to them. "Oh hey, there's a guy flying up there." he suddenly said, as though slightly interested. Ash looked up, then dropped the stack of movies he was carrying.  
"Yusuke, it's him!" Ash called.  
"Him?" Yusuke said, not quite understanding at first, then catching on. "Danny Fenton?"  
"Yeah! He has the same white hair and green eyes that he did in my dreams!" Ash said.  
"We should totally flag him down." Yusuke said, right before a cardboard box filled with 8-track tapes fell on his head.  
"OR we could wait for him to finish fighting." Ash suggested.  
"OR we could offer outside help." Yusuke responded, pulling a metal folding chair and shouting "HEY YOU! CATCH!"  
Danny turned around around and caught the chair easily.  
"WOOHOO! GIVE 'EM THE CHAIR!" Ash shouted.  
Danny smacked the Box Ghost with his newly-acquired metal folding chair, sending him flying.  
"Okay, that was a cheap shot." the Box Ghost said, his expression changing to a semi-serious one. In response, Danny simply busted out a round thermos, pulled off the cap, and pressed the button on the side, releasing a round beam of light, which expanded to fit the size of the Box Ghost. As he got pulled in, he shouted out "BEWARE!", right before disappearing completely into the thermos, which Danny then shook for a few seconds, just to irritate the now-trapped Box Ghost.  
"Thanks for the chair." Danny said, dropping down to Ash and Yusuke.  
"That was a neat trick." Yusuke said.  
"No trick to it. It's just a ghost-trapping thermos." Danny semi-explained. "I don't think I've seen you around here before." he said, immediately after his previous statement.  
"We're from...ah..." Ash stumbled to think of a random location.  
"Out of town." Yusuke said, with a cheesy grin.  
"And totally NOT from a parallel universe!" Ash added, causing a glare from Yusuke and a weird glance from Danny.  
"Way to NOT blow our secret, Ash!" Yusuke said, sarcastically.  
"Well, my ghost sense isn't going off, so you've bought five minutes of my time." Danny said.  
"As my semi-esteemed colleague here just STUPIDLY BLEW, we're from another dimension. Seperate dimensions, actually." Yusuke started to explain.  
"Wait, is this a long story? And is THAT..." Danny asked, pointing down to the fallen stack of VHS tapes, "...a stack of Godzilla movies?"  
"Yes, and yes. And since both answers are the same, those are in no particular order." Ash said, blinking a couple of times afterwards.  
"If you let me watch those Godzilla movies with you, you have a lot longer." Danny said, grinning.  
"Deal." Ash agreed.

As the two teenagers entered the apartment they'd be staying for the next month, they smiled. It was well-furnished, with a large, plasma-screen television, equipped with surround sound. Attached to it were several different video game consoles, as well as a VCR, a DVD player, and a large stereo, which had its own surround sound set. There was a large sofa for them to sit on, as well as two recliners on each side. The place looked like paradise to the two Spirit Detectives, as well as Danny, who phased in seconds later thorugh one of the light blue-colored walls. "Whoa. This place ROCKS!" Danny said, amazed.  
"Sure does..." Ash said, equally amazed.  
"Well, let the monster movie marathon begin, boys!" Yusuke happily exclaimed, as he popped the topmost Godzilla movie into the VCR and pressed 'Play'. The three sat on the sofa and began to relax, with absolutely nothing to worry them for the time being...

The front door to the Fenton household slowly creaked open, as a somewhat nervous Jazz slowly poked her head in, looking for something that Jenny couldn't figure out.  
"The coast appears to be clear..." Jazz said, before hearing someone behind them clearing his throat. She turned, only to see exactly what she was trying to avoid.  
"Uh...Jazzypants, is there another ghost in the house?" the large, paunchy, orange jumpsuit-clad man asked, his eye twitching as he finished his question.  
"Not that I know of, Dad..." she said, seeming peculiarly nervous to the other person there, a tall, curvy, blue hazmat suit-clad woman with reddish-brown hair. Jenny assumed the woman was Jazz's mother.  
"Jazz, who's that with you?" she asked.  
"Is it a new boyfriend in a suit of armor?" the redhead's father asked, his eyes narrowing in anger.  
"No." Jazz answered, her own eyes narrowing in anger.  
"Now Jack...Jazz is sixteen, I think she realizes any boy she brings home with her doesn't need armor." the woman said.  
"Of course he does, Maddie, if he realizes that we're packin' heat!" Jack said, pulling out a shotgun with his face on the barrel.  
"Jack..." Maddie started to say, "...toting around the Fenton Shotgun like that will get you arrested."  
"What, for protecting our daughter?" Jack asked defensively.  
"No, for carrying a gun in broad daylight." Maddie said.  
"But it's a gun with the word 'Fenton' on it!" Jack protested.  
"Actually, it's a gun with your face on it." Jazz interjected, with a bored expression on her face.  
"Disregarding that subject entirely..." Maddie started, then looked over at Jenny. "Who IS this girl? And why is she covered in metal?"  
"This is Jenny." Jazz said. "And she's, uh--"  
"VERY sick. I have to wear this special metal suit if I want to interact with anyone whatsoever." Jenny said, letting out a few fake sobs with her back turned to Jack and Maddie. She then thought, 'Hoo boy, that was lame. There's no way these two are gonna buy that.' To her great surprise, however, when she turned around, Jack had anime-ish tears running down his face as he said "You poor, poor girl!"  
Jenny had very wide eyes as she thought 'How stupid ARE these people?'

As the first Godzilla movie ended, the three teens were interrupted from their euphoric state by a knock at the door. Ash walked over and looked into the peephole. There stood a well-dressed man, with long grey hair tied back into a ponytail, as well as a grey, mustache-less goatee. His blue eyes stared forward, and he smiled. He didn't seem like any sort of threat whatsoever, so Ash slowly opened the door.  
"Uh...can I help you?" he asked, his eyebrows arched.  
"As a matter of fact, yes." the man said. Danny's eyes widened, and he floated over to the door, which caused the man to smirk.  
"Plasmius!" Danny said.  
"I see you've already met Daniel here." the man, who Danny had just referred to as Plasmius, said, still smirking.  
I didn't have to meet him to know about you." Ash said defensively. "You're this dimension's most powerful evil being, Vlad Plasmius"  
"And you're Ash Ketchum...let's see what else your file here says. Age:14. Born in:Kanto, Japan, in the year 990. My, you ARE a long way from home." Plasmius said.  
"Where'd you get my file!" Ash shouted.  
"Where else? From Enma. He hand-delivered it to me in his own office." Plasmius said. "Of course, he wouldn't let go of it without something extremely valuable in return." he smirked again.  
"..." Ash stood there, his mouth agape. He suddenly realized how Enma figured out the Spirit Stone was in Amity Park, but there was something more pressing, and obvious, on his mind currently, which he sounded out slowly.  
"He...gave...you...my...FILE?" Ash shouted, his eyes wild with rage.  
"In exchange for two things. One, that I give him the location of the Spirit Stone. Two, I provide you and your ragtag crew with a place to stay." Plasmius said.  
"You're the guy who owed that favor then..." Ash said, in realization.  
"Why the hell do you need Ash's 'file'?" Danny asked.  
"No reason now, actually. There's nothing of interest in there." Plasmius said, as he turned into his ghost form. "I'll give it back if Ash here can swipe it from me in a contest of strength, speed, and skill!" he proclaimed.  
"Looks like this, uh..." Ash trailed off, then whispered sheepishly to Danny. "...What night is it?"  
"Saturday. Would I have come here on a school night? I don't think so." Danny said, his eyes narrowing.  
"Considering I've known you for all of two hours, how the hell would I know?" Ash asked, shrugging.  
"He's got you there, man." Yusuke added, from the background, as the second Godzilla movie began.  
"Anyway..." Ash trailed off. "Looks like ourSaturday night Godzilla movie marathon is gonna have to be put on hold." he said, frowning at Plasmius.  
"Wait...did you say...Godzilla movies?" Plasmius asked, smiling as he reverted to his human form. "Tell you what, boys. Let me watch those movies with you, and you can have the file back without a fight!" he said.  
"Normally, I'd try to insert something badass like 'OR...you hand over the file and I don't send you packing back to Wisconsin in an iron lung.', but I just don't have the strength. Deal." Ash said, stepping aside so that Plasmius could enter the room.

Meanwhile, across the street, the first tearjerker had just ended, and Jenny, Jazz, Maddie, and even Jack sat there, tears pouring from their eyes.  
"That was so SAD!" Jack blubbered. The three females just nodded as they sobbed. Well, at least Maddie and Jazz were crying. Jenny, however, was leaking oil from her eyes.  
"Fenton handkerchief?" Jack offered, right after blowing into it. Jenny just held her hand out and said "No thanks.", whereas Maddie grinned awkwardly and shook her head, while Jazz simply looked at her dad like he'd caught something horrible, and said "EW."

Meanwhile, back in Tremorton, inside the remains of the Cluster Mothership, many tiny robots were busy tuning up a badly beaten robotic body. As they finished attaching the head, the colors on the robot changed from green and yellow to blue and white.  
"It appears her Majesty is going to be alright." said one of the little robots, to one of his tiny colleagues.  
"Indeed. Your Majesty, can you hear me?" came the voice of the second small robot.  
"W...where am I...?" came the robot's voice, as she raised up, revealing an old enemy of Ash and Jenny.  
"I...I'm...alive..." Vexus said, raising her left arm, and flexing her hand. As she saw it moving, she turned to face forward, with an evil, toothy smirk on her face.

Author's note:Dustin here. Here we are with the first episode of Season 2! What's about to happen, and how was Vexus revived? All will be revealed before the end of Season 2. Anyway, peace out. Stay tuned for Episode 26!


	26. Electric Boogaloo

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 26:Electric Boogaloo

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke.

The disclaimer was not only in episode 1, but also in the previous episode. Please read it there. Now, let's get on with Episode 26.

Riku stood, just out of sight, as Enma got ready to call Ash and nag him to go to bed. Enma laughed as he looked toward Riku. Ratty walked in and joined in the laughter. Osaka then came in, upon hearing Enma and Ratty laughing.

"What's so funny?" Osaka asked, looking slightly confused. Enma, snickering, just pointed at the shadowy Riku, who, glaring evilly, exited the shadows. He was dressed in a French maid outfit, with fake cat ears and a fake cat tail. He just looked on, his eyes narrowed comically. Osaka stared for a few minutes, before starting to snicker. Seconds later,

she joined in the riotous laughter.

"You guys **SUCK**." Riku said, as he turned around and angrily stomped out of the room, only to run smack dab into his mother and Botan, who laughed as well.

"God hates me." he said to himself, as he stormed away.

(Title)Electric Boogaloo!

(Subtitle)Shocking!

(Image) A shadowy Jenny looms over the other Spirit Detectives, who all have shocked looks on their faces, as a green male ghost with long hair and sunglasses grins maniacally from above her.

Guest Voice:Crispin Freeman - Sternbaum

The sun rose idly over Amity Park, and shined right in Ash's eyes. Ash growled, still being exhausted from staying up from Friday until Sunday watching Godzilla movies with his new friend Danny, along with his friend and former teacher, Yusuke, and one of their enemies, even. He growled more loudly as his communicator started beeping furiously.

"What?" Ash huffed. "I'm tryin' ta sleep here!"

"No more sleep for you." came Enma's voice. "You have to be at school in ten minutes or you'll be late."

"Leave me alone, Cheapass McSellout." Ash said, his face buried in his pillow.

"What did you call me...?" Enma said, his eyebrows arched, although Ash couldn't see this.

"You heard me. How could you give Plasmius my file?" Ash asked, hurt in his voice. "I mean, I know I'm definitely not the best there is, but...to give the enemy my file?!" he said.

"I'm sorry, Ash...I had no choice. He knew where the Spirit Stone was. Our top priority is to retrieve it."

"I WOULD have retrieved it, had you let me go on to Amity Park in the first place!" Ash shouted.

"And I told you back then, even if we had acquired it, Wayne could have taken it from us." Enma explained calmly.

"Yeah, like your plan did ANY good. Wayne's here somewhere, genius." Ash growled.

"I realize that." Enma said. "But since he hasn't shown his face since you arrived, we can only assume he doesn't yet have the Spirit Stone."

"I'm starting to not care either way." Ash said.

"Yes, well...consider this. If he gets it, your mom and Misty will die. Not to mention everyone else you care about. Hell, everyone will, for that matter." Enma said.

"Yeah, I know..." Ash said slowly. "I'm still pissed about you handing out my file."

"I would ask no less of you than to BE pissed, Ash. I won't force you to forgive me, either."

"Yeah...I do have one question, though."

"Ask away."

"School?"

"You need a believable cover, Ash. People are going to start questioning a group of kids living on their own in an apartment and not going to school." Enma explained.

"Ash, come grab a quick bite to eat before you go to school!" came a voice that took Ash a minute to recognize.

"Wait...what's she doing here?!" Ash asked.

"I had Jenny beg her for a ride to school for all of you." Enma said, nonchalantly.

"Jesus Christ, Enma! I'm NAKED, for cryin' out loud!" Ash shouted, dashing out of bed, after switching off his commuicator. He quickly slipped on a pair of boxers, and was about to slip on some pants, when the door to his bedroom opened fully.

"Ash, are you awake in h--" started Jazz, as she walked into the room.

As she noticed him wearing nothing but boxers, she stood there for a few seconds, wide-eyed and blushing.

"Uh..." Ash trailed off, equally wide-eyed.

"..." Jazz said nothing for a few moments, as her eyes widened even more. Suddenly, her eyes closed, and she screamed, Ash joining in a split-second later.

"DON'T YOU PEOPLE FUCKING KNOCK?!" Ash shouted, as he quickly put on his jeans.

"Maybe you should try keeping your door completely shut!" Jazz countered, her face red.

"OR you could knock! What are you doing back here?!" Ash shouted.

"Trying to make sure you don't skip out on school!" Jazz said.

"Oh, he won't be doing that." Enma said, from the communicator. "Ash, if you're late, I'll dock your pay. And you can forget vacation time as well, mister."

Ash just grumbled as he semi-shoved past Jazz into the kitchen for a quick bite to eat. He was surprised to see another person at the table, talking with Jenny, Yusuke, Mac, and Bloo. This person was of the same height and weight as Danny, but he was dressed in a white, short-sleeved shirt, and blue jeans. He had black hair and blue eyes.

"Hey Ash." the boy called.

"Who are you, and how do you know my name?!" Ash said, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"Uh, dude...it's me. Danny." Danny said.

"Oh...how come you don't look the same?" Ash asked.

"He's HALF-ghost. We talked about this, remember?" Enma's exasperated voice came from the communicator.

"Can't I set up some sorta call blocking thing?!" Ash shouted, extremely pissed at the fact that apparently, Enma could interrupt damn near anything.

"Never mind that, hurry up and eat!" Jazz said, walking into the kitchen and throwing Ash's white t-shirt at him. Ash quickly slipped it on, then angrily asked "What, no jacket?!"

"Get it yourself." Jazz countered.

"Bitch." Ash muttered, before noticing a bowl of instant ramen on the table.

"For you. Apparently, this I CAN cook." Danny said to Ash.

"Thanks." Ash said, and for the first time, Danny actually saw the Spirit Detective's teeth. "Geeze, don't you ever brush?!"

"I haven't really had time to..." Ash said, and just then, Jazz walked by, catching a whiff of his breath.

"AAH! GOOD LORD, WHAT DID YOU EAT?!" she screamed, her eyes comically wide as she pinched her nostrils shut.

"Lessee...there was that mold Starfire served me..." Ash trailed off.

"MOLD?!" Jazz shouted, before turning green in the face and walking over to the conveniently-placed window above the sink, opening it and vomiting outside of it.

"Yikes. Ash's breath is poisonous." Yusuke said, looking over at the vomiting redhead.

"So, Enma, babe, got some fake IDs for me and Mac to go to this Casper High place?" Bloo asked, grinning smoothly.

"Nope. And the correct term is 'Mac and I'." Enma said.

"C'mon! I wanna go to high school!" Mac protested.

"Wait until you're actually old enough. Believe me." Danny said, looking bored. "High school sucks."

"You're only saying that cause you're a C student." Jazz chimed in, after emptying the contents of her stomach into the backyard of the apartment complex. "Uh...if we weren't gonna be late for school, I'd clean that up immediately..." she added.

"I'll get it." Mac sighed, walking out of the kitchen.

"And I'll get...to watching those Godzilla movies!" Bloo said.

"Took 'em back." Yusuke said, dully.

"Oh...damn it!" Bloo shouted.

"Let's move, people!" Jenny suddenly shouted, after forming her right hand into a bullhorn. "We are gonna be late!"

"Lovely. Another thing Lancer's gonna nail my ass for." Danny said, his eyes narrowing.

"But my jacket...!" Ash said.

"Forget the stupid jacket!" Jenny said.

Minutes later, they were all in a lavender, two-door Beetle with a license plate reading "JAZZ" on it, and a bumper sticker asking "HAVE YOU HUGGED YOUR INNER CHILD TODAY?". Well, everyone except for Jenny, who was standing on top of it.

"What's the deal with the bumper sticker?" Yusuke asked, genuinely

wanting to know the answer.

"Jazz wants to be a psychologist when she grows up." Danny explained.

"Oh. Cool." Yusuke said.

"WHY IS THIS ROAD SO DAMN BUMPY?!" Jenny screamed from atop Jazz's car.

"...We really need a bigger car, Jazz." Danny said.

"That, or Yusuke could get his driver's license and get a car that isn't pink. Nice call on the exterior. Now nobody will ever suspect we're straight." Ash complained, pouting, due mainly to not having his jacket.

He got ready to complain again when he saw Jazz glaring evilly at him from her mirror. He suddenly clammed up.

'Oh geez, I feel like I'm being electrocuted!' Ash thought, in shock.

"Go on...make another comment about my car." Jazz challenged, smirking as she noticed Ash's shocked expression.

"Hey Ash...you okay?" Yusuke asked, his eyes widening slightly.

"Stop...glaring..." Ash stammered out, as he seemed to record that evil glare in his mind.

"Heh heh heh...you got tasered, dude." Danny said, snickering from the front seat.

"Tasered...?" Ash asked, his eyebrows arching.

"My sister's death glare is commonly referred to by me and my friends as the 'Mental Taser'. Kinda makes ya feel like you're being electrocuted, doesn't it?" Danny asked, not noticing that Jazz was now glancing his way with a slightly weirded-out expression on her face.

"Yeah." Ash said.

Soon enough, the car arrived at Casper High, the school Ash would be attending for the next month. As Jazz pulled into a parking spot, Ash shakily climbed out of the car.

"Dude, are you gonna be okay?" Yusuke asked, looking over at Ash.

"I think I'll make it." Ash said.

"Oh, stop overdramaticizing everything." Jenny griped, hopping off of the roof of the car. "She just glared at you."

"It was a glare of...EVIL!" Ash exclaimed.

"Bullshit." Yusuke said. "It was a glare of 'Shut the hell up about my car.'."

"Exactly." Jazz chimed in, walking past Ash, who gave her the finger when she wasn't looking.

"We're gonna be late! Lancer's gonna karate chop my ass into a week of detention!" Danny shouted.

The five dashed madly toward the school.

"Late for your first day, huh Ketchum? Urameshi? Wakeman?" came the voice of the very buff, sort of manly-looking female teacher as they entered their first period class.

"Sorry, Miss...uh..." Jenny trailed off.

"Tetslaff." the teacher said. "MRS.Tetslaff. Know it. Fear it. And always be on time. I'm writing the three of you up."

"Freakin' wonderful." Ash grumbled, as Tetslaff handed him his write-up.

"Eh, nothing I ain't used to." Yusuke said, his eyes narrow.

"Lovely way to start out." Jenny said, smacking her head.

Back at the Fenton household, Jack was busy working on an invention in the basement. As he tinkered away at it, he failed to notice the door to the very place Jazz had mentioned Friday night to Ash and company opening. As it opened, a green-skinned ghost, with long white hair and sunglasses, emerged from said door. he was dressed in a black suit, and

had a long, white cape.

"AHA! I, TECHNUS, AM FREE ONCE MORE!" the ghost, known apparently as Technus, bellowed to the heavens. Suddenly, Jack turned around and looked at the ghost.

"Hey...who the heck're you?!" Jack said, his voice sound slightly miffed. Technus just stared at him for a few seconds, before he continued,

"Are you a...ghost?" he asked, his eyes narrowing at the last part of his sentence.

"I AM TECHNUS! MASTER OF ELECTRICAL TECHNOLOGY!" Technus answered, quite loudly.

"What?" Jack asked, his eyebrow arching.

"Nope." Technus answered quickly. "Not a ghost. Never heard of these ghosts of which you speak."

"Oh, okay. Well then, 'Technus'..." Jack trailed off, making quotation marks with his fingers as he said "Technus". "Care to test out my latest invention?"

"Is it electrical and technological?" Technus asked, his own eyebrow arching.

"You better believe it, baby!" Jack said, a confident grin appearing on his face.

"Then you betta believe I'll test it out!" Technus said, grinning manically, as he started to laugh evilly, before looking over at Jack, who had a weirded-out expression on his face.

"Are you sure you're not a ghost?" Jack asked.

"No. I mean, yes. Not a ghost. Gimme the technology." Technus said.

"I totally believe you! Here ya go!" Jack said, grinning as he handed the large cannon to Technus.

"FINALLY! HA HA HA!" Technus laughed, phasing into the cannon.

"You ARE a ghost!" Jack said, genuinely surprised.

"How do the youngsters of this day and age put it?" asked the cannon, which now had Technus' face on it. "I believe it goes like this...DUH!"

"After all the seconds we've spent together!" Jack said. "EAT JACK O'NINE TAILS!" he shouted, pulling out a short metallic stick from his test pilot suit's shirt pocket and hitting a button on its side, causing a wire to come flying out toward Technus. As it touched him, however, the Jack O'Nine Tails fused onto the cannon Technus was possessing.

"What the heck?!" Jack exclaimed.

"What part of 'Master of Electrical Technology' do you people not get?" Technus asked, as he floated away, phasing through the ceiling.

"Maddie!" Jack called. "You're not gonna believe what just happened..." he trailed off as he ran up the stairs.

Meanwhile, Technus had drifted all the way to Casper High. He phased into the building, looking around for any mechanical device to integrate into his new metal body. As he probed the classrooms, he noticed a familiar face among the countless other teenagers there. The face of his enemy, Danny Phantom.

"Aha! It is the ghost child! I must complete my new body and extract

vengeance upon him! Then, I WILL TAKE OVER THE WORLD!" he laughed. Unfortunately for him, not only did Danny's mouth emit a blue wisp of smoke, but the entire room heard him.

"GREAT GATSBY!" shouted the out-of-shape, bald teacher, of whose classroom Technus interrupted. "GHOST!" he shouted. "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

Everyone fled the room, save for Danny, who waited for every last person to flee, before he shouted "Going ghost!" and transformed into his ghostly alter-ego.

"Child!" came Technus' voice, as he materialized.

"Great...Technus." Danny said, his eyes narrowing.

"Yes! I have retoined! And I will extract my ghostly, mechanical vengeance upon you!" Technus shouted.

"As a cannon with my dad's crazy whip attached to it...oh yeah. I'm totally in trouble now." Danny said, sarcastically.

"Ah ha HA!" Technus laughed overdramatically, firing the cannon at Danny, who simply became intangible and dodged it.

"Coise you and your ability to go intangible!" Technus shouted.

"Dude, my DAD could have dodged that. You really need to stop calling your shots in advance." Danny said.

"Could he dodge THIS?!" Technus shouted, before launching the Jack O'Nine Tails at Danny, who once again, simply dodged it.

"See, the whole 'stop calling your shots in advance' piece of advice thing wasn't just making empty conversation..." Danny said dully.

"The child is right! I, Technus, will now escape and find more technology with which to power my new body!" Technus shouted, then sheepishly added, "You didn't hear that, right?"

"Considering you practically yelled it, yeah. Yeah I did." Danny responded.

"Uh...look! Is that the Box Ghost I see?!" Technus asked, the Jack O'Nine Tails pointing behind Danny.

"Not falling for i--" Danny started, but was cut off by the Box Ghost.

"BEWARE!" came his faux-menacing shout, as he levitated an empty cardboard box. "For the marvelous squareness of this box is now the property of...THE BOX GHOST!"

"DAMMIT, CAN'T YOU FREAKIN' STAY PUT?!" Danny shouted, turning away from Technus long enough to suck the Box Ghost into the Fenton Thermos. Ignoring the shout of "BEWARE!" coming from the incredibly non-threatening ghost, he turned back around, only to find that Technus had disappeared.

"Oh, damn it!" Danny shouted.

Second period seemed to drag on forever, or at least it did for Ash. Yusuke was surprisingly paying attention to the teacher, and Jenny was taking notes. Ash could feel his eyelids being weighed down by sleep, and soon enough, he had fallen asleep.

"Damn boring math class..." Ash muttered, louder than he had hoped, since the teacher, a heavyset, black-haired, short man, stomped up to his desk and said "I'm sorry you find math boring, Mister Ketchum. Perhaps detention is better-suited for a man of your academic level?" he asked, sarcastically. "Or maybe a trip to Principal Ishiyama, or even Vice Principal Lancer?"

"Uh..." Ash said, before his eyes closed.

"Vice Principal it is." the teacher said angrily. "Come with me, young man."

Danny, now invisible, phased through each and every classroom, but was unable to find hide nor hair of Technus. Deciding it would be best to revert to his human form for the time being, he found his locker, flew inside, and reverted. As he did so, two teenagers walked up to his locker. The first was African-American, and male, holding a Personal Digital Assistant in his hands, and wearing a red beret-style hat, and glasses. The second was female, and was clad in mostly black.

"Danny, you in there?" the African-American boy asked.

"Yeah Tucker, I'm in here." Danny said, as he phased through the locker.

"The classroom was in a hell of a panic, wasn't it?" the goth-dressed girl stated, then added, with a smirk, "People screaming...music to my ears..."

"At least it wasn't the whole school this time, Sam." Tucker said.

"Who escaped this time?" Sam asked Danny.

"Technus. He's trying to find more technology to merge with." Danny said. "So far he's got the invention Dad's been working on all week, the Fenton Arm Cannon, and his Jack O'Nine Tails."

"That thing kicks ass, AND impresses the ladies." Tucker said, slyly smirking.

"Like YOU'D know." Sam said, her own sly smirk forming.

"We'd better find the rest of the class. If we're missing, Lancer's gonna get pissed again." Danny said. "I lost sight of Technus, so

chances are he left the school, since my ghost sense isn't go--" he started, when his ghost sense suddenly went off.

"Oh hell." he said, his eyes narrowing in boredom. He then transformed back into Danny Phantom, as soon as Sam and Tucker covered him. When his transformation was finished, he noticed Technus phasing into the school's computer lab.

"Oh hell." he repeated, before noticing Ash and his second period teacher walking toward the Vice Principal's office.

"Geez, he's ALREADY in trouble?!" he exclaimed.

"Who?" Sam asked, and Danny responded by pointing to Ash.

"Who's that?!" Tucker asked.

"I told you about him yesterday. His name's Ash." Danny said.

"THAT guy travelled through countless dimensions to get here?!" Sam asked, her eyebrows arched. "He looks about as smart as Dash!"

"You'd be surprised at the strength this guy has." Danny said. "I got to read his file. He's got a pretty impressive track record."

"Uh, Danny? Technus went into the school computer lab a minute ago, remember?" Tucker asked, his eyes wide.

"Oh yeah...SHIT." Danny said, phasing through the computer lab wall.

"BEHOLD!" came Technus' voice, as Danny entered, "THE AWESOME WRATH OF--"

"...A bunch of computers stuck together." Danny said, smirking.

"Oh. Coises!" Technus shouted, as he somehow managed to self-destruct.

"If I know Technus, he'll be back very soon to possess something more sleek, advanced, and totally able to kick the crap outta me." Danny said. Just then, the bell rang, and he continued "And if I know myself as well as I know I do..." he trailed off, adding "Damn, that's kinda confusing...", before finishing his previous sentence. "I don't have time to

care right now!"

Meanwhile, Ash and his teacher had reached Vice Principal Lancer's office. As it turned out, Lancer was the very teacher who ran from Danny's second period class.

"He's a menace! Not only did he answer every question with a barrage of words I don't DARE repeat out loud, he spent the rest of the time sleeping!" the rotund man shouted.

"Calm down, Sternbaum. We have ways of making his kind cooperate." Lancer said.

"Weren't you and a bunch of other students running from a ghost, or something?" Ash asked, his eyes narrowing as he crossed his non-jacket clad arms.

"Ghosts? What are you talking about? There are no such things as ghosts!" Sternbaum said, angrily.

"Oh yes there are. I saw one the night I got here. Two, actually. One of them was that phantom kid." Ash said.

"You mean this so-called 'Danny Phantom'?" Sternbaum asked.

"That'd be the guy." Ash said.

"Grrr...quit trying to change the subject!" Sternbaum piped, before Lancer raised his hand to silence Sternbaum.

"You can avoid trouble here, Mister, uh..." Lancer trailed off.

"Ketchum." Ash said, pulling out a toothpick and jamming it in the space between his two front teeth, as he propped his legs up so that his feet rested on Lancer's desk. "Ash Ketchum."

"Right, Mister Ketchum. Get your feet off of my desk." Lancer said. Ash reluctantly dropped his feet to the ground. "Anyway, you can avoid trouble, but only if you agree to two conditions."

"Sure." Ash said, trying to play it cool in front of authority.

However, Lancer seemed to be able to see through his ruse, and he stated the first condition.

"First, I assign you a tutor." Lancer said.

"Sounds reasonable." Ash replied.

Lancer then grinned as he stated the second condition.

"All of your progress, or lack thereof, must be sent DIRECTLY to me. If I find you lacking, Sternbaum gets to choose a punishment from..." he trailed off, walking over to his storage closet and pulled out a chart with various punishments listed on it. He then spoke up again. "...Pin the tail on the punishment!"

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Sternbaum said, smirking.

"...Deal." Ash said, still putting on a show in front of the proper authorities.

"I already have the perfect tutor picked out for you." Lancer said.

"I bet you do." Ash replied, his eyes narrowed in boredom.

"Miss Fenton!" Lancer called, to a shadowy figure standing outside his door.

"Oh HELL no..." Ash muttered, as Jazz opened the door and walked into the room.

"This is one of Casper High's brightest students, Jasmine Fenton." Lancer said.

"We've met." they both said.

"Then this'll be easy for you both. Ash, Jasmine here is going to tutor you for the next two months." Lancer said.

"Oh HELL no." Ash repeated, audibly this time. "There is NO WAY I'm letting her tutor me! She wouldn't let me get my jacket this morning!"

"Oh boo hoo." Jazz said, her eyes narrow. "Cry me a river."

"Fine! I will! And I hope you drown in it too!" Ash shouted.

"That's more than enough out of you, Mister Ketchum." Lancer said. "Consider this. If Miss Fenton doesn't tutor you, you get punished severely."

"Isn't her teaching me punishment enough?" Ash asked, his eyes narrow.

"We'll find out, now won't we?" Lancer asked, grinning.

"Joy..." Ash said, his eyes narrowing. "Alright, alright. How's this gonna work?"

"You come by my house after school for two hours." Jazz said.

"Two hours?!" Ash exclaimed.

"Yes. Two hours. No more, no less." Jazz instructed. "Be there. If you're NOT, I'll report it."

"Joy." Ash repeated.

Danny, Sam, and Tucker walked down the hallway, racing toward their next class. As they neared it, though, Danny's ghost sense went off.

"Oh DAMN IT!" Danny shouted.

"We'll cover for ya, dude." Tucker said.

"Thanks." Danny said, ducking behind both of them and "going ghost", as he would put it. He then looked around for whatever was causing it to go off, as Tucker and Sam ran to class.

"Okay Technus..." he said, mostly to himself. "Come on out and fight like a man."

Suddenly, the bell rang a second time, signifying that those who were

not in class without a valid excuse would get written up.

"Dammit!" came Jenny's voice as she charged down the hallway. As she did, though, Technus phased through the wall, back in his old mechanical body.

"Aha! Look at that sleek technology! With it, defeating Danny Phantom and taking over the woild will be a snap!" Technus loudly announced, alerting Jenny to his presence.

"Who, what, where...?!" Jenny said, before looking up at Technus.

"Uh...I remembered to turn invisible, right?" Technus asked Jenny.

"Ghost!" Jenny exclaimed.

"Guess not." Technus answered, as two metal tentacle-like appendages came forth from his chest area, mummifying Jenny from head to toe.

"HE-MMM!" she cried, before she began to lose cconsciousness. Seconds later, the tentacles unraveled from her, and Technus' metal body fell apart.

"Jenny?!" Danny exclaimed, floating over to his new robotic friend.Suddenly, Jenny's hair switched to a ponytail, as shades materialized on her face. She was no longer Jenny Wakeman, she was now Nikolai Technus. As Technus gazed at his new body for a moment, an evil smirk appeared on his face.

"Success...heh heh heh...MWAHAHAHAHA!" Technus said, before standing up and looking over at Danny.

"BEHOLD, CHILD! THE AWESOME POWER OF THE NEW AND IMPROVED TECHNUS 3.0!" Technus roared, then added in a regular tone, "Now with Spamguard!"

Danny threw up his arms in defense, as Technus fired off a barrage of rockets. However, all of them connected, sending him flying

He let out a yell as he flew back into the wall at the end of the hall.

"Just as I thought! You cannot defeat me, ghost child!" Technus shouted, before going intangible and flying off.

"He flew off?! That's weird..." Danny said, phasing through the ceiling to chase after Technus.

Ash exited Lancer's office, along with Jazz.

"I can't believe I got stuck with YOU." Ash said.

"Well, believe it. And don't think I'm kidding about reporting you if you don't show up." Jazz said.

"Relax, I'll show." Ash said, his eyes narrowing, then muttering the word "Bitch."

Jazz just glared at him for a few seconds, before walking off the other way. She started to turn around and add something, but was interrupted by Danny being sent flying past them, his suit caught on a needle-pointed rocket.

"Danny?" Ash asked.

"Danny?!" Jazz exclaimed, with wide eyes as he flew off in the other direction.

"HEYASHCAN'TTALKJENNY'SBEENPOSSESSEDBYAGHOSTLYENEMYOFMINENAMEDTECHNUSANDHE'SPLANNINGTOUSEHERBODYTOTAKEOVERTHEWORLD!" Danny said, REALLY fast, as he disappeared from sight.

"Did you get all of that?" Ash said, his eyes slightly wide. Jazz wordlessly shook her head.

"He said some girl named Jenny's been possessed by the ghost master of science and electrical technology." came a voice from next to Ash. Ash turned and saw someone that made him snarl. It was none other than his foe, Wayne.

"YOU!" Ash said, raising his right index finger.

"Me who?" Wayne asked, shrugging. Strangely enough, he wasn't smirking. He simply looked...normal, one could daresay. He was also dressed normally. Blue jeans with a long-sleeved red shirt. The only thing that stood out is that he was wearing gloves.

"You know DAMN well 'me who'!" Ash said.

"Ash, don't be rude!" Jazz said, walking over to Wayne. "Wayne just started school here today as well. I'm showing him around."

"But he..." Ash started.

"Do I know you?" Wayne asked.

"So...that's the way he wants to play it." Ash mumbled to himself.

"No." he said out loud. "Sorry for the mistake, I thought you were someone else."

"It's quite alright." Wayne said, smiling as he extended his hand for a shake. Ash slowly obliged him, before he turned around and followed Danny.

'Idiot.' Wayne thought, as a smirk appeared on his face.

Ash raced after Danny, catching up to him surprisingly fast.

"I'll have you off that rocket in a second, Danny!" Ash said, raising his right index finger.

"Wait...what are you...?!" Danny asked, fear in his voice.

"SPIRIT GUN!" Ash shouted, firing his attack at Danny. It knocked him off the rocket, as Ash had predicted. However, Ash failed to take into account that Danny would be hurt by the Spirit Gun itself. Danny roared in pain as he got knocked up against the wall by the attack. Ash then blew the rocket up with a second Spirit Gun.

"Danny?!" Ash exclaimed, running over to his newest friend.

"Uhhh...WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU TRYIN' TO DO, BARBEQUE ME?!" Danny shouted.

"I was just trying to get you off the fucking rocket!" Ash shouted in retaliation.

"Newflash, I'm a ghost! I could have simply gone intangible when the rocket exploded!" Danny said.

"Wrong." came Enma's voice, from Ash's communicator. "That rocket was laced with ectoplasmic energy. I have a feeling it still would have hurt you worse than what Ash did."

"I guess so...guess I owe you, Ash." Danny said.

"If you wanna pay me back, help me get this creep, whoever he or she is, outta Jenny." Ash said.

"He." Danny confirmed. "He's one of my oldest foes, Technus, the self-proclaimed master of technology. Fortunately, he's not all that bright."

"That was the OLD Technus, child!" came the voice of said self-proclaimed master of technology. "But Technus 3.0 is stronger, faster, and smarter than your average master of technology!"

"And does this new release have a built-in program to keep you from advertising your evil plans?" Danny asked, with a smirk.

"Well, uh..." Technus stammered.

"It doesn't, does it?" Ash asked, before getting into a fighting stance.

"Y'know what, new child? Bite my...oh...how do these whipper-snappers say it...blue metallic nuts!" Technus fumbled.

Ash and Danny's eyes grew comically wide, as Ash fell over suddenly, then mouthed up "He has nuts in that form?"

"I'm not looking to find out." Danny said, as he fired an ectoplasmic energy bolt at Technus, who simply activated a ghost shield, causing the blast to fizzle out.

"Wait, huh?!" Danny exclaimed.

"I, Technus 3.0, have recalibrated this robot goil's coicuitry to harness a makeshift ghost shield! I am truly the greatest!" Technus shouted.

"You might wanna go with that ad-blocker." Ash suggested, before running across the hall and drop-kicking Technus into a far-off locker.

"Why don't you bite MY nuts, freak?" he said, with a smirk.

"Oh, I'll bite 'em, alright. I'll bite 'em OFF!" Technus said, as compartments opened in his arms and legs, and no less than a thousand rockets, missiles, and lasers emerged from the aforementioned compartments. Ash's eyes went beady, staring at all the weaponry about to be fired upon him and Danny. Technus, as Ash and Danny feared, fired the weapons. Comically, the two began to weave in and out of the warzone, dodging missiles, rockets, and lasers, as fast as they could. Amazingly, they both escaped without a single scratch. However, Technus fired off one more, tiny rocket, which, while unable to explode, nailed Ash in the groin.

He let out a high-pitched squeak, as he fell over, clutching his groin. Danny just looked over at him with a weirded-out expression and shook his head, saying "Ouch."

"He nailed the family jewels." Ash said, his voice still squeaky.

"I can see that." Danny said, dully.

Ash slowly got to his feet, his left hand clutching his groin, and his right hand in the form of a gun.

"I don't wanna hurt Jenny, but unless you get out of her body in the next five seconds, I'm gonna bust open my own personal can of whoop-ass on you." Ash said, his voice returning to normal pitch as he spoke.

"I'd like ta see ya try, tough guy!" Technus said, laughing.

"Five..." Ash counted, his tone dangerous.

It was about Midday at the Spirit World Castle. In only his first day of Cat-Maidship, Riku was hating life already. Everytime he bent over to pick something up, the dress poofed up and showed off the long white stockings he was forced to wear, and, weather it was Enma's fault or not, there always seemed to be somebody around to point out the fact and then laugh at him. He especially got no love from the girls of the former Azu dimension, even though all of them but Osaka, who Riku suddenly found himself thinking about randomly at times, would be leaving to find new dimensions, they all made it perfectly clear that, while they didn't exactly spite him anymore, there was no way they were going to show any sort of friendship towards him. The various comments, and even getting his face kicked into a bucket of soapy water by Kagura, made Riku well aware of that. Yesterday had been their last day, and while Riku felt he sort of deserved anything they threw at him, and threw is used literally here, he didn't like it, and was happy that they were gone.

And then there was just that one girl who would stay behind. Ayumu Kasuga, referred to by the nickname Osaka by some. Riku couldn't figure this out. At times, thoughts of the young woman would just pop into his head. While he most certainly did nothing to push them out, he often wondered why he thought about her, though given the situation he was in, and the anger towards him, he didn't feel now the best time to bring this up to anybody, not even Enma.

But now was one of those times. He was kneeling about 25 feet from her room, cleaning off the floors. At first the thought on his mind was on cleaning the floors, then the walls, then the doors. Then he thought about opening the doors. She was inside, just sitting there. A long silence, then the two walked foreward and embraced in a hug. This lasted for awhile, before Riku realized he had dropped the sponge on his lap, and now had left a large dark mark on his crotch area.

"Ah, son of a-ARGHH!" Riku'd had enough of this confusion. Without thinking he reared back and punched the stone wall as hard as he could, cutting his hand, but leaving about an 8 inch hole in the wall the size of his fist. "God dammit!" Riku was screaming at this point. He reared back and headbutted the door right by him, which he knew as the door to his own room, the door actually breaking off of the hinges, nay, FLYING off the hinges, and slamming into the far wall of the room.

By now, it was obvious that Enma had been alerted, as he, Ratty, Botan, and Osaka came running around the corner.

"What the fuck?" Ratty, bluntly as ever, said loudly for all to hear as he went over to the hole in the wall, actually climbing in to inspect it. "Wow, what kinda shit you got in these walls, Enma?"

"Ratty, get out of there." Enma had a large sweatdrop forming on the back of his head." Then he knew this was coming, as Ratty's small arms tried to force the rest of his body out with no success.

"Shit, I'm stuck!" Ratty screamed, his voice rather muffled by the small space he was jammed into. "Botan, Grab my ass and pull me out!" Botan just looked flustered, and whispered something unaudible to Enma, to which Enma nodded.

"Yes, of course." The king of Spirit World nodded before turning to Ratty. "We'll get you out later. Maybe this will teach you not to put your body where it doesn't belong."

"YOU BASTARDS!" was the last noteable line by Ratty, before he started spewing out every swear word he could think of. Enma cleared his throat, then began to speak to Riku, who was still flustered.

"Ahem, Riku." Enma got no response. "Come with me, we need to talk." Enma did an about-face and and walked off, in the direction of the library. Ripping off the maids costume, revealling only a tight white shirt and blue jeans underneath, Riku followed, stopping for only a split second as he passed Osaka.

And their eyes met. For a moment, and only the briefest moment that nobody else would have noticed, the two did nothing but look into each others eyes. Riku broke off the gaze and continued to follow Enma, but he was blushing. However, he wasn't the only one. Osaka had gone red in the face too, but thankfully, Botan had followed them off, and nobody noticed. Even Ratty's profane shouting couldn't break the moment this young woman was having. Why she was having it, however, remained a mystery to both parties. For now, at least.

Riku said nothing, his head resting on the back of a bookshelf, as Enma just stood there, tapping his foot impatiently.

"I can't read minds," The Overlord of the Spirit World spoke sternly. "But It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what's going on in your mind. I know it, and so do you."

"That's where you're wrong, Enma." Riku finally talked, and he didn't exactly sound happy. "Strike. I don't know. I have a feeling, but I don't know what it is. Help me out." During the last sentence, his voice tone very quickly changed from Angry to desperate, and Enma could see that.

"This is not the first time you've felt something like this?" He asked.

"It isn't."

"It's love. A Crush, affection, whatever you want to call it." This comment caused Riku to raise his head, looking at Enma like he was a madman.

"Strike two." Now it was Enma's turn to look at Riku, as though HE were the madman. "I know what love is, Enma. Love is the affection I feel for my mother. That is not what I feel for Miss Kasuga. So try again." There was a long silence, then Enma started to laugh. Lightly at first, then rather heavily. Riku was mad.

"What the fuck are you laughing at, you son of a BITCH!" Riku wheeled around, without warning, punching a deep hole through the nearest book shelf, scattering many books and records on the floor on the other side. Enma stopped immediately.

"Easy, boy! Can I not laugh at a joke?" Riku looked like he was ready to go off again.

"I don't know what the fuck has gotten into your ego, but making fun of others personal quarries is NOT something I find amusing." Another long silence, in which Enma now looked baffled, and Riku slowly calmed down.

"You really don't know?" Enma asked.

"That's why I'm here." Riku said calmly. Enma beckoned for him to come over to a nearby reading table.

"Then we've got alot to talk about, Riku. Let's get started." The two sat down, and Enma began the long task of explaining this concept to Riku.

"So...what, you don't know what comes before five?" Technus mocked.

"No, it's not that...you're topless." Ash said, smirking.

"WHAT?!" Technus shouted, checking to make sure. As he did, it took Ash less than a second to get over to him and give him another free trip down the connecting hallway, courtesy of his right foot.

"Dumbass. Jenny doesn't have boobs." Ash commented with a smirk, as he landed. "Now I'm totally gonna--"

"Get back to class." came the very pissed-off voice of Jazz.

"Yeah, get back to cl...wait, no, that's not it." Ash said, before realizing Jazz was glowering over him.

"Your sister's right behind me, isn't she?" he asked, looking with narrow eyes toward Danny.

"Yup." Danny said, dully.

"...Shit." Ash said. "Y'know, Jazz..." he continued, not turning around. "...I'd love to just go back to class, but there's kinda this living weapon of mass destruction here in front of us, and--" he was cut off by Jazz grabbing his left shoulder forcefully and saying "Danny can take care of it!" as she yanked him down the hall toward his next last class before lunch.

"GET THE FUCK OFFA ME!" Ash shouted, as Jazz dragged him down.the hallway and into the classroom, throwing him inside, where Lancer was awaiting him.

"I can see already that you're going to be quite a handful, Mister Ketchum." Lancer said, dully. "Now take a seat before I forget the deal and punish you anyway."

Ash, grumbling, reluctantly took a seat, next to a blonde-haired girl with blue eyes. The girl muttered something that sounded like "Loser." to Ash.

"I'll get you for this." Ash mouthed to the smirking redhead standing at the doorway.

"Off to a wonderful start, huh man?" came a whisper from behind Ash. Ash recognized the voice immediately, wondering why he didn't notice Yusuke before.

"Oh yes." Ash whispered back. "I have a she-devil tutoring me from now until I leave Amity Park, I'm getting into all sorts of trouble, and to top it off, Jenny's possessed."

"Seriously?! Then what the hell are we doing here?!" Yusuke said out loud.

"Mister Urameshi, I'm writing you up for swearing." Lancer said angrily.

"Don't give a damn, gotta go!" Yusuke said, hastily shoving past Jazz as he bolted out the door.

"GET BACK HERE, MISTER URAMESHI!" Lancer bellowed, then added "Miss Fenton, watch the class for me. I'll be right back."

before following Yusuke outside.

"So..." Jazz trailed off, walking over and sitting in Lancer's chair. "Someone care to enlighten me as to what you've been reading recently?"

Yusuke charged down the hall toward Danny and the Technus-possessed Jenny, yelling as loudly as he could and generally making an ass of himself.

"YARGH FLARGH SHMIMLE BIMLE FLIP FLOP ZAT!" Yusuke shouted as he charged.

"What the hell was that?!" Technus said.

"Yusuke, you're freakin' insane, dude." Danny said casually.

"And proud of it!" Yusuke proclaimed, before noticing Technus. "Whoa, Jenny...you've seen better days."

"Jenny?!" Technus shouted. "Who's Jenny?! I am Technus! Master of science of electrical technology!"

"Technus, eh?" Yusuke asked. "Well, Technus, I am Yusuke! Master of kicking your freakin' ass!"

Danny then spoke up. "Uh, guys, I think we've filled the banter quota." he said.

"Really? We have?" Yusuke asked. "Cause y'know, I thought I'd drop a few more humorous one-liners."

"No, no, we're good." Danny said.

"Aww..." Yusuke said, sulking before attacking Technus wordlessly. Technus simply turned on his ghost shield, though it was to no avail. Yusuke drop-kicked Technus across the hall. As he began to charge Technus again, however, the ghost rose out of Jenny.

"Hold, child! You are far too strong for me! I give up!" Technus said.

"Wait, what?! You can't give up! I just started fighting!" Yusuke shouted angrily, walking toward Technus. As he did, he failed to notice that Jenny still had Technus' face, or at least, he did until it was too late. Seconds after walking toward what he thought was Technus, Yusuke found himself on the ground in pain.

"What the hell?!" Yusuke said.

"Success!" Technus, still inside of Jenny, shouted. "I have duplicated my form!"

"DAMMIT, WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN'T DO THAT?!" Danny shouted at the top of his lungs.

"It looks like you won't get a chance to learn how to, either!" the duplicate Technus said, before he and Technus-possessed Jenny high-fived.

"What are you two so smug about?" Yusuke asked, then added "As far as I can tell, all you've succeeded in doing is giving me another ass to kick!"

"Bring it, chump!" Jenny-inhabiting Technus said.

"Spirit Gun!" Yusuke shouted, firing off a bullet at the duplicate Technus.

"Ha ha ha, you can't defeat me! I am unstoppable!" duplicate Technus shouted, as the bullet hit him, causing him to disappear.

"So you blew away a duplicate with half of my original power. Big stinking whoop." Technus said, yawning as Yusuke charged him.

"Eat this, numbnuts!" Yusuke said, throwing a punch at the master of science and technology.

"Very good idea, whelp!" Technus said, exposing sharp metallic fangs and biting Yusuke with them, causing him to scream in pain.

"OH JEEZ, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!" Yusuke shouted, extremely pissed off.

"You said to 'eat this'." Technus said, smirking toothily, as Yusuke's blood could be seen dripping down his mouth.

"Look, Technus...don't make me use IT on you!" Danny said, threateningly.

"Child, what makes you think you could after all the damage you've taken?!" Technus said, still grinning.

"...Hey Yusuke. Cover your ears, man." Danny said. Yusuke, in pain, did as he was told, and not even a second after he had done so, a horrible screeching sound came from nowhere, as visible green sonic rings flowed out of Danny's mouth, expanding to cover a wide radius. Anything these rings touched was more or less vaporized, except for the true target, Technus, who crashed through the wall behind him.

"Oh, just great." came the voice of Sternbaum. "Now ghosts are crashing through my walls...wait a second...GHOSTS!" he yelled, bolting from the door, into the hall, where he saw Yusuke and Danny, but didn't worry about them as he fled down another hall toward the nearest exit.

"Well, that was real sweet of him." Yusuke said bitterly, muttering "Son of a bitch..." afterward. He glanced over at Danny and noticed that Danny looked weathered.

"You okay, man?" Yusuke asked, genuinely concerned.

"Yeah...I'll live." Danny said. "Damn...still takes a lot out of me." he added.

"Ha HA!" Technus laughed, as he got back up. "No major damage done!" he added, dusting himself off.

"Dammit..." Danny muttered, as a ring formed at his midsection and split into two rings, the upper one heading up and the lower one heading down. Seconds later, Danny was in his human form again.

"CRAP." he said angrily.

"Things just keep getting better and better!" Technus exclaimed with a laugh.

"What WAS that, Danny?" Yusuke asked.

"That was my 'Ghostly Wail'." Danny said, weakly.

"That thing packs a punch, doesn't it? Techno Geek here didn't feel much of anything, though." Yusuke said, glowering over at Technus.

"Can I be ex--" Ash started to say, before being cut off by Jazz.

"No." Jazz said.

"Okay, MAY I be ex--" Ash started once again, only to again be cut off by the older girl.

"No." Jazz repeated

"C'mon, you know you're gonna let me go." Ash persuaded, with a sly grin.

"Not gonna happen." Jazz said, dully.

"But..."

"No."

"I just..."

"No."

"Would you just let..."

"No."

"I need to help..."

"No. Look, lunch is in like, ten minutes. You can go do..." Jazz trailed off, not wanting to blow Ash's identity, despite the fact that he was getting under her skin. "...That project with Yusuke then."

"I don't know if that project can wait, red." Ash said. "Sounds like a warzone outside."

"Look, Ash...if you were to get caught, you realize what Mister Lancer would do to you?" Jazz muttered, after getting up and walking over to Ash. "You'd be lucky to just get suspended."

"I don't care!" Ash whispered loudly to Jazz. "I didn't want to fucking go to this school in the first place!"

"Will you watch your mouth?!" Jazz whispered angrily.

"I'll watch my mouth when you let me go!" Ash whispered, now sounding furious.

Back in the hallways, Technus continued to fight back against Yusuke, though Danny was forced out of the fight due to being too tired to go on.

"One down, one to go!" Technus exclaimed excitedly.

"This one ain't going down, dammit!" Yusuke said angrily. Before he could start charging toward Technus once again, however, the lunch bell rang. And before they could react, Ash stood before the three, with a smirk on his face.

"Now...where were we?" Ash asked, glancing over at Technus.

"Right about here..." came a voice not belonging to any of the four of them, though Ash and Yusuke knew who it belonged to.

"Play dead." came the familiar voice of Wayne.

Without any sort of warning whatsoever, Jenny's body noisily exploded, sending her parts flying every which way, but more importantly, exposing Technus is his natural form.

"Oh...crap." Technus said, before Danny pulled out the same thermos that he'd used to trap the Box Ghost. He pushed the button on the side, releasing a light blue beam from it, and, with a shout of "NO-O-O-O!!!", Technus was sucked into the thermos.

For added enjoyment by the group of heroes, Danny shook the thermos, causing Technus to yelp a bit. Jenny's parts then began to congregate at the point where she had blown up. Within a couple of minutes, Jenny was pieced back together, and looking normal.

"Uh...where am I?" she asked.

"It's a long story." Ash said, then looked over at Wayne. "Why did you help us?"

Wayne looked around, checking to make sure no one else was there, then he said "No one kills you but me or my minions. It just so happens that Technus wasn't one of those minions." With that, Wayne walked off, with one final warning...

"You're far too close for your own good, Ash. If I were you, I'd spend what little time I had left with my family."

"...I'm already with them." Ash said to himself.

"Will someone please tell me what the hell's going on?!" Jenny said impatiently.

"Sure thing." Yusuke said.

"Before anyone says anything..." came Lancer's voice. "You are in SO MUCH TROUBLE, Mister Urameshi...DETENTION FOR A MONTH!"

Cut to Fentonworks, after school. The entire gang had stopped by after school, and all except for Ash, Jazz, and Yusuke were in the den, watching television.

"I can't believe Lancer gave me detention!" Yusuke shouted in frustration from the living room.

"And I can't believe he said I needed a tutor!" Ash groaned.

"You think I like this?" Jazz asked, her 'Mental Taser' fully charged as she glared forward evilly.

"I know I don't. Still, a deal's a deal." Ash said, his own version of the 'Mental Taser' quickly charging as he glared forward.

"So, what grade are you in mathematically?" Jazz asked.

"Uh...what grade teaches you the thing with the 'X'?" Ash asked.

"You don't know multiplication?!" Jazz said, her eyes wide.

"Multi-what?" Ash asked.

"Oh, it's all over now folks!" came the voice of the announcer on television.

Author's note:Finally, this one took forever. And both Caleb and myself worked extensively on it. That said, tune in next episode, with a surprise guest, or two. ;) Peace.


	27. Hero Worship

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 27:Hero Worship

A mega-crossover fic written by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke.

Disclaimer. Episodes 1 and 25. Read there. Yargh.

Ash's eyes slowly fluttered open, and he rose out of bed, forgetting that he was completely naked, and that his curtain was wide open. As he rose, his eyes glanced over and saw someone moving around over at Fentonworks. Before he could cover up, said person opened her curtain and was greeted by the unnerving sight of...morning wood.

"..." Jazz said nothing, as her eyes widened enormously. Then, out of nowhere, she screamed loud enough to wake up the neighbourhood. As she screamed, it covered up the loud poofing noise that accompanied four figures who appeared in the street below.

"Awesome!" came one of the voices. "It's really Amity Park! Home of latest comic book superhero, Danny Phantom!" The voice belonged to a familiar, pink-hatted individual.

"Wow, those fairy holograms of yours sure can create awesome visual effects. It's an actual three-dimensional representation of the town in your comic book!" came the voice of the boy next to the first voice. This boy had a familiar, oversized head complete with swirly, fudgy hair. Yes, the two boys, and "fairy holograms", were Timmy Turner and Jimmy Neutron, along with Timmy's fairies, Cosmo and Wanda.

(Title)Hero Worship

(Subtitle)You'll go obsessive over this!

(Jingle)Electric Guitar

(Image)Timmy is hugging Danny with an 'anime' smile on his face. A shadowy Plasmius looms over the pink and green cats next to Danny's leg. Ash, Yusuke, and Jenny look on from the right with bored expressions on their faces.

Guest voices:Tara Strong - Timmy

Debi Derryberry - Jimmy

Daran Norris - Cosmo

Susanne Blakeslee - Wanda

Martin Mull - Vlad Plasmius

Cut to Casper High School. As Ash walks down the halls, Jazz stomps up beside of him.

"You did that just to spite me, didn't you?!" Jazz asked.

"Don't flatter yourself, bitch." Ash said angrily. "Just so happened to forget I was naked."

"Uh huh." Jazz said, her eyes narrowed.

"When I do something to spite you, you'll know it." Ash said, then ripped open a locker door. Before Jazz could react, she had walked into it.

"Now see, THAT was to spite you." Ash said, smirking as he stopped walking.

"Oww...that hurt, you insensitive ass!" Jazz said, rubbing her sore nose.

"Ask me if I care." Ash said, before walking off toward his first period class.

"I totally feel safe now that he's protecting Amity Park." Jazz said, rolling her eyes to illustrate her biting sarcasm.

"So this is the Nasty Burger..." Timmy said. "Awesome! I want a Mighty Meaty Meal!"

"So when're we gonna meet this holographic representation of your latest idol?" Jimmy asked.

"I'd say he's in school now...which reminds me..." Timmy trailed off, with a narrow-eyed smirk.

"Talk to me, Vlad." Wayne said, as he and Motoko met with the half-ghost villain atop one of Amity Park's towering rooftops.

"It seems some kids have come here from many dimensions away." Vlad said.

"Some kids, travelling across dimensions...?" Wayne asked.

"Yeah, here are some pictures of them." Vlad said, handing out two pictures. One of Timmy, and one of Jimmy.

"Turner and Neutron...here? Interesting." Wayne said, with an evil grin, as his eyes narrowed.

Ash sat in Tetslaff's class, taking down notes on their most recent assignment, when suddenly, he could sense magical energy within the confines of Casper High.

'Weird...magical energy...don't tell me a ghost is attacking.' Ash thought. Just then, he spotted a pink hat moving by the door.

'That pink hat looks familiar.' he thought.

"Ketchum!" came the stern voice of Tetslaff.

"Yes, Mrs.Tetslaff?" Ash asked.

"You want to tell us what we're discussing today? Or would you rather continue zoning out?" Tetslaff asked sternly.

"Do I really have a choice?" Ash asked, genuinely confused. This caused the entire class to burst into laughter.

"Yes, and you chose option C: Lancer's office. Get going now." Tetslaff said.

"Aw crap." Ash said, his eyes narrowing in anger.

"Casper High? What are we doing in high school? Er...I mean, what are YOU doing in high school?" Jimmy asked.

"Duh, this is were Danny goes to school. He should be in Lancer's class currently."

"Now see, you're confusing me." Jimmy said. "This 'Danny Phantom' goes to a regular high school, but he's the only half-ghost in the school? How does he do it?"

"Let me explain something to ya, Jimmy old chum." Timmy said, before Ash walked by them, causing their eyes to widen.

"...ASH?!" they both exclaimed. With extremely wide eyes, Ash turned to see Timmy and Jimmy standing there.

"What the **HELL** are you guys doing here?!" Ash shouted.

"Well, I wanted to meet the newest comic book sensation in Dimmsdale! Jimmy's really just here cause he was in the room with me when I teleported." Timmy explained.

"Ohhh..." Ash said.

"So, wait...this is REAL?!" Jimmy asked, his eyes wide.

"Yep. One hundred percent re--" Ash started to say, but got cut off by a familiar voice.

"Why aren't you in class?!" Jazz asked.

Ash looked up toward the roof angrily and silently flipped off the sky, mouthing 'God damn it...'.

"I got sent to the principal's office. What about you, Miss goody two-shoes? Decided to cut class to check on me?" Ash asked.

"For your information, I have a hall pass. And I'm _going to the bathroom_." Jazz said angrily.

"To jerk off?" Ash asked, smriking slyly, then he whispered down to Jimmy and Timmy "She saw me naked earlier. I must be getting her hot and bothered. Look, she's all red. I must be turning her on."

"Don't think I was turned on in the least by your morning nudist policy, you asshole." Jazz said, baring her teeth in rage.

"C'mon, we're all adults here. Well, except for Jimmy and Timmy, and mentally, only Timmy." Ash said, grinning. "Admit it, I turned you on quite nicely."

"And if you did? What would you do?" Jazz asked, her eyes narrowed in boredom.

"Be repulsed. Y'know, the whole 'already dating someone' thing." Ash said.

"Oh." Jazz said, then, grinning slyly, she added, "You turned me on, then, baby. Totally."

"And that's my cue." Ash said, his smile fading as he darted off.

"Wait, don't leave us with this..." Jimmy said, before actually seeing Jazz She seemed radiant to the eleven year old.

"Angel..." he said, his eyes narrowing as his cheeks turned red.

"That...that jerk...!" Jazz said, pouting as she stomped away.

"Timmy, is SHE in that comic of yours?" Jimmy asked, cartoony pink hearts in his eyes.

"Yeah. She's Danny's older sister, Jasmine." Timmy explained in a know-it-all tone.

"My angelic Jasmine..." Jimmy said, his eyes narrowing further as his smile became wavy and he seemed to float off in the same direction Jazz had walked to.

"Oi vey." Timmy said, slapping his head.

"Those two with Turner and Neutron are magical beings." Wayne said, as he walked down the halls of Casper High. "How do we expose them, though?"

"Leave that to me, Wayne." Plasmius said, smirking, as he floated invisibly beside Wayne. "I'm trained in the ways of exposure."

"Very well." Wayne said, his own smirk forming. It vanished, however, when he caught sight of a certain brunette walking down another hallway toward Wayne's next period class. What was now on the evil redhead's face was nowhere near a smirk, a grin, or even a smile. As a matter of fact, his look was currently a snarl.

"...What the **hell** is SHE doing here?!" he growled.

The hallways of Casper High were quiet, with the occasional person coming to or fro for their own, personal reasons. This was no different for Janine Williams, as she angrily marched down the hallway toward Tetslaff's class, now possessing knowledge of her brother's school schedule.

"Okay, Wayne...time to face up to your past mistakes..." Janine said, mainly to herself, as she stepped up to the door. As she started to look inside, though, she heard a voice behind her.

"Looking for someone, whore?" came a voice she knew all too well. She turned around to spot Wayne, standing there dressed in a red, short-sleeved t-shirt and blue jeans.

"Yeah. You." Janine said, and pointed her right index finger at him, as a small blue orb began to form in front of it.

"Janine...your energy's capping out at a mere 34,000." Wayne said. "Do you honestly think you can beat me?"

"Why don't we find out after you get out of school for the day? And put your money where your god damn mouth is." Janine said, her eyebrows arching in anger.

"Very well." Wayne said, smirking. "Don't be late, bitch."

"I've never been late before." Janine said.

"Then don't start." Wayne said, opening the door and walking into Tetslaff's class.

Plasmius walked up, turning back into his human form. He and Janine then began to walk away from Tetslaff's class.

"Shall we run over the plan, Janine?" Vlad asked, holding out what appeared to be a map.

"Yes, but I have a question first...why are you helping me?" Janine asked.

"Because I want to kill Wayne. And I don't want the death of every human being. Just Jack Fenton." Vlad said.

"Very well then, that part of your motivation is none of my business." Janine said.

"It should be known that I'm not exactly helping you, just myself." Vlad said. "But then, you probably knew that. You're a lot more intelligent than your brother."

"Of course. Wayne was always the better fighter. I was always more of a strategist." Janine said.

"Indeed...you know, maybe I could use YOUR help." Vlad said, as the two finally reached the doors to Casper High. As Vlad opened them, Janine said "I belong to the Spirit World. Even though I'm betraying Enma in a way, I'm doing it for the greater good. I want nothing to do with you after this."

"Very well. However, you really should rethink that. I could make you stronger than your friend Ash. FAR stronger." Vlad said, a tiny smirk forming as he noticed a lingering uneasiness on Janine's face. The uneasiness was only there for a second, however, and was quickly replaced with a determined look.

"I can train myself just fine." Janine said.

"Yes, but my training won't take nearly as long as your own would. I will admit, though, that your training has done rather well for two months. You raised from a D class to a C plus class." Vlad said. "But you're still nowhere near Ash's level of skill. His current energy level is somewhere above two hundred thousand."

"Insane..." Janine muttered.

"Indeed."

"...I'll think about it, Masters." Janine said, after a moment of silence.

"You do that..." Vlad said, then added, "Now about our plan..."

The bell rang for lunch, and as Jazz exited the classroom, she began to feel like she was being watched.

"Hello?" she asked. "Someone there?"

When she heard no one respond to her, she walked off toward the cafeteria. As soon as she had exited earshot, Jimmy's dreamy sigh could be heard as he stepped out of the shadows.

"Oh Einstein's ghost...she's so radiant." Jimmy sighed.

"Dude...just give it up man, she didn't even notice you." Timmy said.

"Of course she did! She asked if someone was there, remember?" Jimmy said, his regular eyes replaced with cartoon-y pink hearts.

"I give up..." Timmy said, then noticed as Ash , Jenny, Yusuke, and Danny exited a classroom.

"Dude! It's Danny Fenton!" Timmy said, excitedly.

"I thought his name was Danny Phantom." Jimmy said, not turning his head, but no longer having cartoon-y pink hearts for eyes.

"No, that's his superhero name. I have GOT to get his autograph, or something from his room, or an article of his clothing. Something like that." Timmy said.

"Yeah, sure, okay."" Jimmy said, apparently not paying much attention to Timmy.

"So, where're we gonna sit at?" Ash asked.

"Eh, I don't really care." Yusuke said.

"Shame I didn't ask ya." Ash said, with a playful grin.

"Yeah, screw off." Yusuke said in response. Before the two of them could try to get any more testosterone to rage between them, though, Danny cried out in surprise as he felt something grabbing onto his leg.

"What the hell?!" he cried.

"Hi Danny, I'm Timmy! I'm your biggest fan!" Timmy exclaimed happily.

"Danny has fans?" Yusuke asked, his eyes narrowed to comical slits.

"Timmy, what the hell are you doing?!" Ash said.

"What's it look like? I'm introducing myself to Dimmsdale's newest comic sensation!" Timmy announced.

"Oh." Ash replied.

"Wait...what the hell is Dimmsdale?!" Danny said.

"It's in an alternate dimension. Jenny and I stopped by there on our way here." Ash explained.

"And you, Danny Phantom, are Dimmsdale's latest comic book superhero!" Timmy exclaimed,quite loudly to boot, as he held up a comic book titled "Danny Phantom" to further illustrate his point.

"Shhh! Keep it down, kid! Nobody's supposed to know about my secret identity!" Danny harshly whispered, then added, after an awkward moment of silence, "How do YOU know it?"

"Duh. I just told you. Alternate dimension. You're a comic book character in my universe." Timmy said.

"Oh yeah." Danny said.

"Where's Jimmy?" Ash asked, hoping to divert TImmy's obsessiveness slightly.

"Oh, he ran off to make googoo eyes at Danny's sister." Timmy explained.

"What?! There's a man hitting on my sister?! And I'm not there to be meddling and overprotective?!" Danny shouted, running off afterwards in the direction Timmy had scampered over from.

"Wait! Take me with you!" Timmy hollered, running after Danny.

"Dude, Jimmy's only twelve!" Ash said, then Jenny just put her left hand on his right shoulder, causing him to turn his head as she shook hers wordlessly.

"So yeah, I'm still wondering which college I should go to after graduating. What do you girls think?" Jazz asked a crowd of girls that were around her. They wordlessly walked off in response.

"I guess that's an 'I don't know', then?" Jazz called after them. As they vanished from sight, she just sighed and walked further toward the cafeteria. However, as she walked, she couldn't help but feel once more like she was being watched.

"Who's there, seriously?!" she said, her voice sounding a little afraid. "I know you're there! I have a Fenton Peeler and I'm not afraid to use it!" she continued, brandishing said ghost-fighting weapon, with her finger on the button, which was located on the top side of the device.

"W...wait, I'm not here to hurt you." Jimmy said, emerging from the shadows.

"Uh...didn't I see you earlier? And aren't you a bit young to be in high school, kid?" Jazz asked.

"Actually, I'm here with a friend." Jimmy said. "I just happened to notice you were lonely, and..."

"Lonely?! I'm not lonely! What makes you think I'm lonely?!" Jazz said defensively.

"It could be the fact that you sighed when those other girls walked away, or that you didn't look happy at all to be alone here." Jimmy explained.

"You're pretty perceptive for a little guy." Jazz said. "What's your name?"

"Jimmy." Jimmy answered. "Jimmy Neutron."

"Nice to meet you, Jimmy. I'm--" Jazz started to say, but got cut off by Jimmy.

"Jasmine." Jimmy said. "My friend told me your name."

"Your friend knows me?" Jazz asked, surprised.

"Yeah. He has every issue of your brother's comic." Jimmy explained.

"Oh..." Jazz started, then, a millisecond later, she said "Comic?!"

"Yeah, y'see...my friend and I are from..." Jimmy started, but got cut off by Jazz.

"Alternate dimensions..." she said.

"How'd you know?" Jimmy asked, as they began to walk down the hall.

"I kind of guessed at it when I saw Ash talking to you and this little friend of yours earlier." Jazz said.

"Oh. Yeah, that's right. You saw me and Timmy before now. I was kind of too distracted by something to remember." Jimmy said, his eyes fixating on Jazz's. The redhead noticed that his cheeks were slightly reddened.

"Uh...are you okay, Jimmy?" Jazz asked.

"Huh? Oh! Yeah, I'm fine." Jimmy responded.

"You sure? Cause your cheeks are kind of rosy..." Jazz said, sounding genuinely concerned for this small boy she had just met.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Jimmy answered quickly, before being tackled from behind by Danny, who roared loudly, his eyes shut as he tackled Jimmy into the nearest flat surface.

"Danny?!" Jazz cried out.

"Ow..." Jimmy moaned out, as he slowly rose.

"That'll teach you to mess with my sister!" Danny said triumphantly. This act only earned a shout from Jazz, who responded with "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Protecting you, of course!" Danny said.

"FROM A TWELVE YEAR OLD?!" Jazz shouted.

"A twelve year old...?!" Danny said slowly, then opened his eyes. He saw Jimmy standing there, holding his left cheek.

"Heh...whoops. Sorry." Danny said sheepishly.

"Meh, I didn't need those teeth anyway." Jimmy said, spitting out two teeth afterward.

"Aren't you a bit young to be hitting on my sister here?" Danny asked.

"Hitting on me...? Jazz mouthed to herself.

"Hitting on her?! Have you been smoking crack or something?!" Jimmy exclaimed. "I'm not hitting on her!"

"Then why are your cheeks red?" Danny asked, smirking.

"Uh...internet?" Jimmy said, unsure if it would work. Danny stood there for a minute before simply shrugging and walking off.

"Get me all the information you can on Vlad Masters's weaknesses. I have a feeling Ash will need to know this." Enma said to Ratty.

"Damn, why do I gotta do all the dirty work?! You need a fuggin' secretary." Ratty angrily said.

"That's why you're here." Enma replied.

"What?!" Ratty shouted. "That's not in the job description!"

"You didn't read the fine print." Enma said, a sly grin on his face.

"Aw horseshit." Ratty grumbled.

"Okay, I gotta say...this kid is starting to creep me out." Danny mouthed silently, the camera panning out to reveal Timmy sitting with them at their lunch table.

"So..." Danny tried to get some sort of conversation going.

"Can I have your autograph? Or something from your room? Or your DP emblem?" Timmy asked, excitedly.

"Uh..." Danny rubbed the back of his head with his right hand.

"Hey, Timmy..." Yusuke suddenly spoke up, pulling out a stick.

"Huh?" Timmy looked up for a second, his eyes fixated on the stick.

"**FETCH**!" Yusuke tossed the stick over toward the popular kids' table.

"OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY!" Timmy shouted, taking off like a rocket after the stick.

"Thanks..." Danny sighed in relief. The friends resumed their lunch for all of five seconds, before a voice Danny knew all too well bellowed throughout the cafeteria.

"Who the **HELL** threw this stick?!" bellowed the tall, blonde football team captain, Dash Baxter, a notorious bully who thrived on "B-list" students. He clutched the stick in his left hand, teeth gritted and bared.

"He did it!" Ash, Danny, Tucker, and Sam all chimed in simultaneously, pointing at Yusuke.

"Sure, blame the _Asian_ brother." Yusuke mumbled, his eyes narrowed angrily.

"But you DID do it." Ash replied, his eyes narrowing in boredom.

"Yeah, but that moron Dash doesn't have to know it." Yusuke calmly continued eating his lunch as Dash stormed over to our heroes' table.

"I KNOW one of you did it." Dash growled.

"Yeah. Yusuke. We all pointed at him." Tucker piped up.

"Thanks, Tuck. Thanks a lot." Yusuke's eyes narrowed angrily.

The bell rang, signifying the end of the school day. As Wayne exited the building, he saw Janine standing across the street from the school, glaring over in his direction. He responded with his own glare, then gazed off toward the nearby park. Janine nodded as her brother looked back toward her. Silently, Wayne began walking toward said park, and Janine did the same. As the two reached the gates, Wayne sneakily swiped at Janine. Growling and rearing back, she returned the favor. The two then stood against each other, then turned around and walked about ten feet each from where they started.

"I've been dreaming of putting you out of your misery for eight years, bitch..." Wayne grinned evilly.

"Too bad you'll never get that chance." Janine pointed her right index finger forward. After a standoff that lasted for at least a minute, she wordlessly fired a Spirit Gun to start their battle...

Wayne charged at Janine, full-force, drawing his sword and swiping at her.

Janine jumped to avoid getting sliced by Wayne's sword, then countered with a kick to his abdomen.

Wayne went flying back approximately twenty feet, before hitting the ground hard. Before totally recovering, however, he was blasted by Janine's Spirit Gun.

Immediately after firing her Spirit Gun, Janine raced over to Wayne and gave him a right hook across the jaw.

Wayne collided with a nearby tree, then immediately disappeared. Reappearing in front of Janine, he pointed his left index finger in her face.

Janine countered, in the only way she knew how. She planted her foot forcefully into Wayne's groin. As he backed off, he let out a small grunt of pain.

Janine drew Ash's Soul Sword, just as Wayne rushed at her in another attempt to slice her perfectly in half. She barely had time to parry his blow.

Janine countered with a roundhouse kick, but Wayne was ready this time. Grabbing her leg, he actually lifted her off the ground and swung her for a few seconds until flinging her into a tree.

Before Janine could recover fully, Wayne was in front of her again. He smirked as he looked at her. "I'm proud of you, filthy whore. You weren't holding back. You were REALLY trying to kill me."

"Not trying...little brother. DOING." she countered, firing a Spirit Gun immediately afterward. This one managed to pierce Wayne's left shoulder, causing him to cry out in pain.

Wayne's retaliation was swift, but, unfortunately for him, not swift enough, as his third swipe missed Janine and left him open to another Spirit Gun bullet. This one also struck straight and true, nailing him in the right leg.

Wayne dropped to his knees, seemingly unable to continue the match. Janine smirked in triumph.

"So...after all that taunting, after all the times you've called me a weakling, the mighty Wayne Williams has fallen...and to a girl. His own big sister, no less." Janine laughed.

"Don't you DARE call yourself my sister. You haven't earned that right. You never will." Wayne scowled. "As far as I'm concerned, you're just one more swine to be wiped off the face of the Earth when I acquire the Spirit Stone."

"You won't acquire it. Don't you get it, Wayne? You lost. I'll put you out of your misery now..." Janine sighed, closing her eyes and raising the Soul Sword.

"But...weren't you going to save me?" Wayne's eyes looked on, with just a pang of remorse.

"...I...I'm sorry, Wayne." she turned around, only for a second, to wipe her eyes so Wayne wouldn't see her tears, but that one second was all that Wayne needed. His wicked grin widened as far as it would humanly go, and he lunged forward.

"**YOU DROPPED YOUR GUARD, BITCH**!!!" he roared in triumph, his eyes turning red as he lunged.

As kids played in the surrounding area, formerly blissfully unaware of the fight going on right in the center of the park, they were made aware by Janine's bloodcurdling scream.

At this point, Riku and Enma emerged from the Library, a look of confused realization on Rikus face.

"So I..." Riku started to question.

"Yes." Replied Enma.

"And she..." He questioned again.

"That I can't tell you, for I do not know what goes on in Miss Kasugas mind." Enma tried to sound empathetic, though it was a bit strange that of all things, love was something Riku was oblivious to.

"But you're the-"

"I told you I can't read minds, Riku!" Enma figured the only way to set Riku right in this sense was to discipline him. "Understand that if you truly feel this way for her, you've got to do something about it."

"So...do I just come out and say it?" There was a bit of a pause.

"I wouldn't exactly do that..." Enma thought for a moment. "How about this, talk to her, and then come back to me and tell me how it made you feel." Riku smiled in response, giving a nod.

"Right-O!" He started to jog off, but Enma put out a hand to stop him.

"Not like this." The Overlord said. "Like, tomorrow, or sometime, when you're doing your chores. Wait until she passes by, get her attention, and strike up a conversation. Don't make it look like you're going out of your way, at least not just yet. Got it?" Riku had to think for a moment, but then he earnestly nodded.

"Got it, Enma." The two exchanged their thanks as Enma released his grasp, and Riku walked off calmly.

"Ahh, to think that one of our former threats has fallen so easily." Enma thought he was monolouging to himself, but the sound of another voice broke that thought.

"Asshole, you don't know 'fallen' until you've had yer ass hanging out of a wall." Enma looked, and sure enough, there was Ratty, covered in white dust and pieces of stone. Enma just laughed.

There went another dull throb. And another. It kept happening, as if trying to rouse her. Finally, Janine's eyes fluttered open, and no sooner than they did, an extremely bright light flooded the room. Janine tried to raise her arms to shield herself, but it was then she

felt the ropes pinning them to her sides. As a deterrent for the light, she simply closed her eyes. "What's going on here?" she asked aloud, trying to remember. It slowly came back to her...she hadn't been killed. She was merely knocked unconscious by the blunt edge of Wayne's sword. As it came back to her, she was too captivated by thought to notice Wayne's laughter echoing throughout the bright room. It wasn't until the lights dimmed that she even noticed that he was there with her.

"Mwa ha ha ha..." Wayne laughed, though not quite as loud as a few seconds ago. "Comfy?"

"Not exactly." Janine mumbled, trying to smart off toward her brother. She felt extremely dizzy, and the only thing that kept her from falling to the floor was the fact that she was tied to the chair she was seated in.

"I thought you liked this sort of thing, bitch." Wayne said, grinning madly.

"Not in the middle of life or death games for control of a rock of ultimate power!" Janine then cringed a bit, as her own shouting made her head hurt.

"Stone. It's, y'know, actually more of a stone." Wayne closed his eyes, smirking.

"So, why'd you leave me alive? Could it be that you're regaining your humanity?" Janine smirked as well.

"Please. As much as it would give me great pleasure to kill you...I have a MUCH better use for you."

"And that would be?"

"Live bait. For Ash Ketchum." Wayne grinned wickedly as he said Ash's name.

"There's one snag in your plan, genius. Ash hates my guts now."

"Does he? I've seen the concern in his eyes sometimes when he looks at you...do you not feel the same way?" Wayne's left eyebrow arched.

"...I don't have any romantic feelings toward Ash anymore." Janine looked away.

"Bullshit."

"No...I think of him as a friendly rival, but that's it."

"See...I don't buy that. I believe you still want him to grab you and fuck your brains out." Wayne laughed.

"Even if I DID want that, and I don't...it's too late now. He's with Misty."

"You could always come to your senses and kill her."

"Never! I'm not a cold-blooded murderer like you!"

"Stupid bitch." Wayne's smirk vanished, as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a white cloth. Acting quickly, he forced it between Janine's lips and knotted it behind her head. Janine let off a few angry grunts into the gag in her mouth as she struggled. Wayne simply laughed and walked away.

As school was finishing up for the day, Ash was practically the first person out of the door.

"WOOHOO! SCHOOL'S OUT! TIME FOR--"

"...Time for you to get to my house so I can tutor you." Jazz said, walking up beside him angrily. "And don't even THINK of trying to weasel out of it. No excuse is valid enough."

"Yeah, well...OUCH!" Ash was cut off from his retort by something getting lodged in his backside.

"Did a bug bite you?" Jazz asked, not seeing the incident occur.

"No! Something's lodged in my ass!" Ash shouted, reaching down and removing the object, yelping in pain as he did so.

"OW! MOTHERFUCKER!" Ash then held the object up to see, as the two walked away from Casper High.

"Why did someone throw a dagger at you?" Jazz looked slightly freaked.

"I don't know why he shivved me in the ass, but I bet..." Ash cut off, realizing that Jazz didn't know Wayne's role in his quest.

"Bet what?"

"That bastard I'm chasing threw this." Feeling stupid, Ash noticed a note attached to the dagger.

"Huh...?" He then began reading it aloud.

"'Yeah, I threw it.' How the hell did he know I'd pin it on him?" Ash stopped briefly, scratching his head.

"'Just so you know, I kidnapped Janine. If you want to see her alive, come down to Pier 14.' Why are they always even numbers?" Ash stopped again.

"'If not for her sake, then do it for the sake of getting the antidote for the poison that was just introduced into your bloodstream via the dagger I threw.'...Aw HELL." Ash looked dumbfounded.

"Well, I'd say that's a valid excuse. Let's go." Jazz said.

"Let's? Let's?! WE'RE not going anywhere. I'M gonna go stop that asshole."

"How? Are you going to WALK to the complete opposite side of town?!"

"Actually, I'm catching a bus."

"Buses have been cancelled by our mayor for an indefinite period of time. And in case you forgot...I've got wheels." Jazz held up her keys, her eyes narrowing as she grinned.

"...When we get there, you stay in the freaking car." Ash sighed in defeat.

Janine struggled as violently as she could, to no avail. The ropes weren't about to give way anytime soon. Sighing, she slumped back in her chair.

'Ash...please, be careful.' she thought.

As Jazz's car pulled up to the pier, the redhead turned her head, and noticed that Ash looked deadly serious.

"Ash?" she reached over toward him, but he suddenly bared his teeth angrily.

"Wait here. This won't take long." Ash opened the passenger door and slammed it behind him as he stepped out of the car.

As he stepped into the warehouse, he completely blew any element of surprise he might have had, by screaming.

"ALRIGHT, WAYNE! GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE SO I CAN WASTE YOU!"

"Blowing your only chance of surprising the master. Very clever. No wonder he hardly considers you a threat, Mister Ketchum." came the voice of Motoko as she stepped out of the shadows.

"I remember you. You're from Hinata Hot Springs." Ash said.

"Well, this girl is. I'm a different entity altogether."

"So you were put in this girl to make her serve Wayne, right?"

"That's right." came another voice, which caused Ash to tense up. This one belonged to Wayne.

"Alright, you bastard! Gimme that antidote and fight me like a man!" Wayne simply responded to this with a slight chuckle, which developed into a full-on laugh seconds later.

"You...you actually believed that? There is no antidote...because there is no poison."

"Wha...?!"

"If I wanted to kill you, I'd have thrown it at your back, Poison acts much faster when it's closer to the heart." Wayne smirked, then closed his eyes for only a split-second. That split-second, however, was all Ash needed to launch the first blow. Said blow sent Wayne flying backwards.

"In that case, let Janine go!" Ash said angrily. Wayne turned his head toward the shadows and said, out loud, "Told ya he still cared."

Suddenly, the lights to the warehouse came on, revealing Janine toward their right, bound to a chair, with a cloth tied between her lips.

"Janine! Hold on, I'll free ya in just a second!"

"You'll do no such thing, idiot. You have to go through us first." Wayne smirked.

"Actually, his only target's gonna be you!" Yusuke shouted, bursting through the door. Behind him were Jenny, Mac, Bloo, and Danny.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?!" Ash shouted, in surprise.

"Trying to avoid Timmy. He's relentless." Danny said, rolling his eyes.

"Right. Talk later! LET'S GET IT ON, BITCHES!" Ash shouted, leaping over to Wayne and beginning his fight with the evil redhead.

Motoko started to advance toward Ash, but was stopped by Yusuke's voice.

"Look bitch, I don't know what you think you're doing, but I know it's sure as HELL not getting in the way of those two fighting."

"Do you five intend to attempt stopping me?"

"Lady, there's no attempting about it." Danny's eyes narrowed, and he continued. "We're gonna stomp your ass."

"Go ahead, if you think you can!" Suddenly, flame surrounded Motoko, and she charged forward. Danny could barely keep up with the following attack, as she lobbed an endless barrage of punches his way.

"She's WAY too fast!" Danny remarked, before Yusuke joined the light-speed, formerly two-way contest of strength between Danny and Motoko.

"Damn, you weren't kidding!" Yusuke shouted, as he realized he'd never get past Motoko's defenses.

"What this needs is a woman's touch!" Jenny chimed in, racing to Motoko and throwing her fist at the possessed girl's backside.

To her horror, however, Motoko actually sprouted a THIRD arm and parried Jenny's fist.

"Surprised, aren't you?" Motoko smirked, without once turning her head as she continued to parry blows from Yusuke and Danny.

"How...?!" Jenny could barely speak as she continued to punch against the third arm.

"I'm a demon. Surpassing what this body could normally do is my specialty."

"Bet you can't grow it back when I chop it off!" Jenny shouted, her hand converting into a buzzsaw and, as she had narrated seconds ago, slicing off Motoko's new arm. The demon howled in pain for only a second, because that second is all it took for Jenny to bury her other fist in Motoko's back. The possessed woman fell forward, before getting hit by both Yusuke and Danny. As she fell backward, she got kicked by Jenny.

"Okay Danny, she's all yours!" Jenny smirked. But as Danny got ready to attack, he was suddenly tripped by a pair of arms latching onto his legs.

"HEY, WHAT THE?!" Danny shouted, as he fell to the floor. Motoko took the opportunity to recover and nail Yusuke in the jaw.

"Danny, freakin' help out up here!" Yusuke growled, as he recovered from the hit.

"I'm trying! Something's latched to my legs!" he looked down, and saw...

"TIMMY?!"

"Hi Danny! How's it goin'?" Timmy closed his eyes and smiled.

"Would you LET GO OF MY LEGS WHILE I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF A LIFE-OR-DEATH FIGHT?!" Danny shouted.

Meanwhile, on the other side of this fight, the two warriors were locked in the middle of a duel:Wayne's Gurthang versus Ash's Rift Sword. The two fiercely clashed for what would have seemed like hours, had netiher of them been wearing a watch. Suddenly, hey seperated, both leaping back, landing on opposite sides of the warehouse. They seemed to stare each other down for a minute, before Wayne leaped skyward, and attempted to cleave Ash in half. It was an attack, however, that Ash easily dodged, and once again, their swords met. Again and again, they met each other, blow for blow. Ash struck at Wayne, and vice versa. Janine continued to stare on helplessly as the two edged ever closer to her, and a mere minute later, they were in front of her.As Ash weaved expertly away from Wayne, whose clumsy blow ended up slicing Janine's ropes. As Janine flexed slightly, the ropes completely gave way, freeing her to pull the cloth out of her mouth.

"See, I knew that'd happen." Ash smirked.

"You asshole! You totally didn't!" Wayne shouted.

"Oh, but I did. I bet you didn't notice what I did to you, either!" Wayne looked confused at this comment, for about all of one second, before Ash's "attack" became clearly visible, in the form of Wayne's belt breaking in two at the buckle.

"WHAT THE?! AAGH! YOU ASS--" he was cut off by Ash's foot slamming into the front of his face, sending him stumbling backward, until he tripped and fell to the floor.

"Get up. I'm not finished with you yet." Ash looked down at Wayne, his eyes narrowed to slits.

"I...lost again..."

"That's right, pussy. And do you know why?"

"Enlighten me." Wayne scowled.

"Because you're hiding behind Wayne, rather than being a man and fighting me yourself." Ash explained.

"...So, you know about me, eh? I refuse to give up this boy. His energy is delectable!"

"Wait...Wayne's NOT the bad guy?" Mac asked, from across the room.

"Wayne's as much a victim as anyone he's killed." Janine spoke up. "Snap out of it, Wayne!"

"..." Wayne blinked, and his stare was no longer of anger, but of fright.

"...Janine?" he looked genuinely terrified.

"Wayne!" Janine smiled and threw her arms around her little brother. He returned her glomp, only for about a second, before his eyes turned red.

"LOOK OUT!" Ash screamed at the top of his lungs, before firing a Spirit Gun at Wayne to stop him from breaking Janine's neck with his hand. Wayne got knocked backward, all the way over into Motoko, which sent both of them to the floor. Wayne stood up again, growling as the six heroes laughed at him.

"GRRR...I HATE ALL OF YOU BASTARDS!!!"

"Come on, that's no way to speak in front of children." Yusuke said, snickering as he did so.

"JUST WAIT, I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU ONE DAY!!!"

"Nope. I'm turning you in to Spirit World." Ash smirked. "We win, you lose."

"Hell no you DON'T win!" Wayne turned back to Motoko and said "Get us out of here!"

"But Master, we could beat them if we teamed up!" Motoko protested.

"I SAID _**GET US OUT OF HERE**_!" Wayne was furious, and everyone there could tell that.

"You're not getting away from us!" Danny shouted, diving for Wayne, but as he did, a wall of fire erupted around the villains. He dove back in time to grab Timmy and go intangible. Yusuke leaped back as the wall of fire expanded, as did Ash, but Jenny just crossed her arms and let the fire hit her. It was soon revealed why, as this fire didn't even torch her paint job. But before she could lunge at Wayne, he and Motoko disappeared in a flash.

"NO! DAMN IT!" Ash screamed as he landed. "NOT AGAIN!"

"How many failures does that make for us now?" Jenny asked, her eyes narrowing.

"I stopped counting after three." Yusuke muttered.

"Damn them to hell..." Wayne said. Unbeknownst to him previously, Ash had done something further than simply breaking the redhead's belt. He also managed to cut Wayne along the chest, just as Wayne had done to him during their fight in Demon's Door Cave. "I WILL kill that ass if it's the last thing I ever do. Mark my words, Ash Ketchum...your days are numbered." he finished wrapping gauze around his wound, looking up at the sky as his fury boiled within him.

"Ash...I'm sorry. Because of me, you..." Janine started, as the gang entered Condo Ketchum.

"Eh...we'll get him next time." Ash smirked.

"Uh...here." Janine handed Ash his Soul Sword. "This deserves to be reunited with its owner."

"Now hold on. I GAVE that to you."

"But it's an extension of your soul! It's useless for me to keep it!"

"Do you think that brief time we spent together was useless, Janine? I loved you." Ash looked away.

"But...then why...?"

"Because I loved Misty first. And it hurt to find out you were working with Wayne."

"Wait, wait...this woman worked with Wayne?! Who the hell is she, anyway?!" Danny spoke up.

"That's right, you, Mac, and Bloo don't know her. Well guys...meet Wayne's older sister, Janine." Ash said, eliciting gasps and murmurs from the three who were previously clueless.

"Wayne's SISTER?!"

"You mean that bastard's got a sister?!"

"...She's hot."

"Bloo!" Mac cried out.

"What? She IS!"

"Uh...thanks." Janine said, sweatdrops forming on the back of her head as she looked down at Bloo. "But wait...does that mean you still...?" she turned over to Ash.

"I'll never forget that period of my life. I'll leave it at that." Ash smiled.

"I'm sorry...I should have told you about Wayne being my brother..."

"You kept it secret for a reason. I can't be mad at you for it, Janine."

"Please...accept your Soul Sword. I don't need it to remind me of the wonderful times I had with you, Ash." Janine thrust the sheathed weapon in front of her, into Ash's hands.

"...Then I will take this weapon back. But I still want to give you a present...a promise. I will NOT abandon Wayne. One way or another, I WILL save him."

"Thank you..." Janine said, lightly wrapping her arms around him in an embrace, then turning and walking toward Condo Ketchum's front door. Suddenly, she turned and said "And remember this...I've always been on your side, and I always will be." She walked out, and the door shut behind her, assumedly due to the wind.

"...Good to know." Ash smiled.

Meanwhile, Plasmius floated intangibly outside the window, spying on the pink and green balloons with Timmy as he listened in to another conversation that took place seconds later, in Yusuke's room...

"You want me to WHAT?!"

"You heard me. Find a way to get that Timmy kid back into his dimension." Danny repeated.

"What makes you think I can do it?! I don't know SHIT about opening these rifts!"

"Well then, persuade Ash to do it!"

"I thought you liked the kid!" Danny looked dumbstruck at this.

"Where the hell have you been today? He's driving me CRAZY! If I hear any more of his inane chatter, my head'll freaking EXPLODE!!!"

"I thought you'd be more pissed cause he kept you from snagging Wayne."

"Don't remind me. He's a freakin' menace."

As they talked, the very person they were conversing over just so happened to stop and listen to said conversation. As he listened, his features softened. "I get it...he doesn't want me around. I should have guessed it'd happen sooner or later."

With that, Timmy walked out of Condo Ketchum, attracting Jenny's attention. Seconds later, Danny and Yusuke exited from the latter's room.

"Oh Timmy...where are you?" Yusuke called out.

"Maybe he's gone cause he overheard the two of you complaining about him." Jenny said, anger present in her voice.

"...Oh crap...why do I suddenly feel like a sack of crap?" Danny pondered.

"Maybe cause you were an asshole to a boy who idolized you?"

"Right. That'd do it."

"Well, we're just gonna have to find him and force Danny to apologize!" Ash roared from the kitchen.

"Uh...you realize I'm right here, right?" Danny chimed in.

"Yes, but I never said I gave a damn." Ash smirked as he said that, poking his head out to look at Danny.

"Uh...dad?" Jazz called out, poking her head into the living room, where Jack and Maddie were watching Ghostbusters.

"Something buggin' ya, princess?" Jack looked away from the movie for a second, over at his daughter.

"I kind of need your help with something..." she grinned a bit sheepishly, as she hopped into full view, Jimmy clamping onto her right leg.

"OH GOD! LEG HUMPING GHOST! MADDIE, GET THE FENTON REPELLENT!!!"

"Stupid wish...now Danny hates me..." Timmy walked along the nighttime streets of Amity Park, with Cosmo and Wanda following him.

"Well sweetie, you DID kinda invade his personal space." Wanda spoke up.

"Yeah, and now he totally hates you! YAYYYY!!!" Cosmo said, oblivious to how bad he just made Timmy feel.

"If only there were some way to apologize..." Timmy mused.

"Maybe just saying 'I'm sorry'? Just a thought." Wanda commented.

"What if I could help you get HIM to apologize?" came a voice from nowhere.

"Who's there?!" Timmy rallied into an action pose, as Vlad stepped out of the shadows.

"Vlad Masters!" Timmy recognized him as Danny's mortal enemy.

"Okay kid, here's the deal...Daniel WILL apologize to you, I can make sure of it. But in return, you must tell me what those things with you are." Vlad smirked.

"You just want me to admit that I have fa--" Timmy quickly cut himself off.

"Fa...what?" Vlad grinned as his eyes narrowed evilly.

"None of your business!" came Ash's voice as he jumped forward, kicking Vlad.

"Ah yes, Mister Ketchum."

"That's right. More mister than YOU could ever handle." Ash smirked. "Hey Tim, got a new deal for ya. Danny can still apologize to you, and in return, you watch me beat the living shit out of Masters."

"Done!" Timmy grinned, then whispered "Flashlight, please!"

As a flashlight poofed into his hand, he clicked it on and laughed wickedly.

"OH GOD! THAT'S MY BABY MAKER!"

"Good, then I hit my target!"

"NOT IN THE NOSE!"

"Hold still and it might not hurt so bad!"

"OW! YOU SAID IT WOULDN'T HURT SO BAD!"

"No, I said it MIGHT not hurt so bad!"

"Oh great, now you're deflecting one of my beams toward Miss Fenton, who just walked out of Fentonworks!"

"AW SH--" Ash's eyes widened. Suddenly, though, Timmy jumped over and grinned widely, using his teeth to deflect the beam to a safer target: the sky.

"WOO-HOO! I SAVED SOMEONE! I'M TOTALLY A HERO NOW!" Timmy rejoiced.

"And I just totally...what do you young kids say nowadays?"

"Cruised to get bruised." Ash smirked, hitting Vlad one final time in the face, knocking him out.

"Wow! You saved me! Thanks, little guy!" Jazz said, smiling and smooching Timmy on the forehead, causing his pupils to be replaced with hearts.

"Don't mention it..." Timmy said, in a lovesick monotone.

"Wow. Timmy saved my sister. Didn't see that one coming." Danny chimed in, finally joining the others as he walked over toward

Timmy and Jazz.

"Oh...hey there Danny...sorry about, y'know...all that creepy hero worship."

"I just wanna know WHY you think I'm cool."

"Look at you, man! You're Danny freakin' Phantom! You go through walls! You shoot beams from your hands! ...Your feet do that thing where they turn into a tail! You're the coolest!"

"Y'know, having these powers has been awesome...and a little scary. It's awesome to fly, but I run into a lot of dangerous enemies...I don't know if I can handle them alone sometimes...tell ya what. As my way of apologizing to you, why don't I let you be my sidekick while you're in Amity Park?"

"Really?!" Timmy said, his pupils now stars.

"Yeah...we'll call you..."

"THE TOOTHINATOR!" Ash chimed in, his eyes closed as he grinned widely.

"You know something? I learned a valuable lesson today. Hero worship in small doses is okay, but don't sneak into their room to steal their underwear! That's just crazy." Timmy then looked around and grinned nervously.

"I learned to not be creeped out by my fans." Danny thrust his right index finger into the air.

"I learned that Mom and Dad DO invent useful inventions!" Jazz stuck her thumb up and motioned over to Jimmy, standing inside of Fentonworks.

"I LEARNED NOT TO CLAMP ONTO THE LEG OF A SIXTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL!" Jimmy shouted from inside the house.

"I learned what Masters's spleen looks like!" Ash looked positively giddy.

"I learned that evil supervillains have hot older sisters!"

"Bloo!" Mac protested.

"Hey, you said it too, after she left!"

"Yeah...yeah I did."

"I learned that an extra arm is easily removed with a sharp enough object!"

"I learned jack shit." Yusuke pouted.

"Which is exactly WHY you're going to start being tutored under Miss Fenton, starting tomorrow." Lancer interrupted, popping up from out of nowhere.

"Aw hell..."

With that, everyone started laughing. As Vlad came to, he started laughing as well, until being punched out by Ash again.

Author's note:Oh god...this took so long. I also half-assed the later half of the story. I started out with high hopes of writing this successfully, but I guess whether it's a hit or a miss will ultimately be determined by you fans, eh? On that note, however, Caleb's short section was written with his usual storytelling prowess, so if any part of the episode is any good, it'd be that part. I also consider this author's note to be the longest I've EVER written in any story I've had a hand in. That said, it's over now. Peace, y'all. Episode 28's on its way soon, yo.


	28. Cupid's Love Storm

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 28:Cupid's Love Storm

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke.

There's a wonderful little disclaimer at the beginning of episodes 1 and 25, so please, read them there. With that said, let's get on with the story!

Our story today begins with a closeup of Ash, who looked extremely bored as he sat in Mr.Lancer's English class. He yawned quite loudly, then slowly drifted off to sleep. His head pounded the desk, making a loud noise it after slipped out of his hand and fell. This alerted Lancer to his lack of interest.

"Mister Ketchum. I assume my class isn't high-maintenance enough for you?" Lancer said, scowling at the bored student in front of him.

"No sir...I was working late." Ash said, quickly.

"Working late is no excuse for falling asleep in my class, young man." Lancer scolded. "If not for the fact that one of our brightest students has been assigned to be yours and Mister Urameshi's tutor, I'd have already failed you both for the entire semester." he finished, looking over at Yusuke, who was also asleep. "**WAKE UP, MISTER URAMESHI**!" he bellowed.

"Huh...wha...?" Yusuke murmured. "Just five more seconds, Ma..."

"**WAKE UP NOW**!" Lancer bellowed once more.

"Alright, alright!" Yusuke said angrily, as his head rose from the desk. "Jeez, I was just sleepin'." he said.

"Sleeping? Mister Urameshi, do you know how I spell sleep during school hours?" Lancer asked.

"S-L-E-E-P?" Yusuke shrugged.

"Try F-A-I-L-U-R-E." Lancer said, frowning.

"Funny, sounds more like the way to spell failure to me." Yusuke said.

"Exactly. That's what you've achieved today. Come back here when school lets out. You've also achieved an hour of detention."

"An hour?! Damn it!" Yusuke shouted.

"Make that two for swearing." Lancer added, then turned around, as he did, he noticed Yusuke giving him the finger from out of the corner of his eye.

"I see you want a THREE hour detention." Lancer said. "And something that may end up on your permanent record."

"Aw horseradish." Yusuke said, coming very close to saying 'horseshit' instead.

* * *

(Title)Cupid's Love Storm

(Subtitle)A Romantic Reign of Terror!

(Jingle)Soft synthesizer

(Image)Ash is holding Jazz, who has a relaxed look on her face, bridal-style as he looks toward the camera with a look of fright on his face. Cupid is on their right, grinning evilly as he pulls back on his bow-and-arrow.

Guest Voices: Tom Kenny - Cupid

Martin Mull - Vlad Plasmius

* * *

It was early morning at the Spirit World Castle, but that didn't stop Riku from being up and about, performing his duties to Enma, in order to prove his worth to the Heros cause.

"Sad part is," Riku thought aloud. "that I'M the first one awake. I'M here working while everyone else is sleeping." Riku just continued to grumble, until the sound of another voice behind him caused him to jump.

"I ain't sleepin'." Came the voice of a young female, which was followed by a groggish yawn. Riku knew who it was before he even turned around, as there was only one voice in this world that sent chills up and down her spine.

"Uhh...h...hey...Osa...Ayu..." Riku attempted to speak to her, though his attempt was failing. He could not choose a name to call her by, and already, he was blushing. Lucky for him, she was only half awake. She yawned again before speaking.

"Mornin'...I see you're moppin'." She pointed out, still somewhat sleepishly, though she was right. Riku had indeed been mopping up the dirty floors.

"Oh, really, you noticed?" Riku's face was red as a tomatoe. Evidently, even the slightest attention from her at this point was enough to drive Riku crazy. Sure enough, many many thoughts raged through his mind.

So rageful were his thougts, in fact, that Riku'd failed to notice that he'd not only dropped his mop, but placed his foot in the bucket of water he was using at the time.

"Ahh, shi-" Was all that Riku managed to blurt out before he hit the ground, landing flat on his ass and spilling the water all over the floor, promptly wetting said ass. Osaka just giggled, seeming fully awake now. If it at all possible, Riku's red face became redder.

After a moment, Osaka, who was indeed fully awake, offered her hand to help Riku up. Blushing as usual, he accepted, and she pulled him up. Her hand was so soft, and Riku hoped that her touch would never leave his. He had to stumble eventually due to the height difference. "T...Thanks." Riku said, completely embarassed as he removed the bucket from his foot and attempted to wring the water out of parts of his shirt. Osaka merely gave him a warm smile.

"You're funny, Riku." She said with sincerity in her voice, and the comment nearly caused the latter to lose it on the spot. As she began to walk away, she spoke again as she walked by him. "Maybe you're not so bad afta'all." Then it happened again. That split-second moment of eye gazing slash contact, and for a moment, Riku felt like his brain was going to melt and leak out of his ears.

With a cheek to cheek grin on his face, Riku turned to watch young Ayumu walk away, her pink silk gown trailing beautifully behind her, he thought. Even her hair, which was messy like the morning, still attracted him in every way.

A moment later, she rounded the corner, but Riku did not avert his gaze. He just stared into the void where she would have been, countless fantasies, romantic and or sexual, running through his head at the time. "I'm already starting to enjoy this feeling called 'Love'." Riku said to nobody in particular.

His smile was still very bright, as he proceeded on with his work.

* * *

"Damn it, I can't believe I got three hours of detention after school!" Yusuke shouted, as he, Ash, and Danny took their seats outside of the school for lunch.

"At least you'll miss being tutored by Little Miss Smartass." Ash said bitterly, dreading his after school tutoring session at Danny's house. He then added, "Danny, you've known her for a long time, right?"

"If by long time you mean 'since I was born', then yeah." Danny said, with a bored expression on his face.

"I honestly think she has it in for me. She's trying to teach me this thing with this weird stick in the middle and two dots on the upper and lower sides. She says it has to do with math." Ash said, his eyebrows arching in confusion. Suddenly, a voice cut in. A voice Ash dreaded. The voice of said tutor.

"You mean division?" Jazz asked, a bored expression on her face.

"Phht!" Ash scoffed. "Division is a myth, like the pyramids, or North Dakota! Everyone knows there's only one TRUE Dakota."

"And you, being Japanese and from a time period before the United States even existed, would totally know this." Jazz countered, with a sly grin on her face.

"Okay, maybe division does exist. I know one thing. As of this moment, I'm dividing myself from your tutoring!" Ash said.

"Technically, you could have used the term subtracting, but whatever." Jazz said, the bored expression returning to her face.

"You just love the sound of your own voice, don't you?" Ash asked, his own bored expression crossing his face.

"Look, fine. Just drop the tutoring for all I give a damn." Jazz said angrily. "You're wasting your potential, though." she added.

"What do you mean?" Ash asked, the bored expression not leaving his face.

"As much as I hate complimenting smug people like you, you are far smarter than you give yourself credit for." Jazz said.

"Is that why you don't give a shit if I drop the free tutoring?" Ash asked.

"I just don't like wasting my time. I can tell you're not even the slightest bit interested in learning." Jazz answered. "Whatever. Not my problem anymore." she added, before storming off.

"What crawled up her ass and died?" Yusuke asked.

"I think a better question is 'What DIDN'T crawl up there and die?'." Ash said, frowning.

"Oh yeah! Yusuke!" Jazz called to the present-day Spirit Detective.

"What?" Yusuke asked.

"Mister Lancer gave me special permission to tutor you while in detention!" Jazz said.

"Wheefun." Yusuke muttered.

"See you after school!" Jazz called.

"Boy, what a pill." Ash said, after she was out of earshot.

"You don't think you were being harsh in the least?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, I'm the one that didn't give a damn about my studies." Ash said, rolling his eyes.

"Actually, you were, and you are." Danny said, rolling his eyes as well.

"Do me a favor, Danny." Ash said, before flipping off his new friend. "Shut up."

"Wonder where Tucker and Sam are?" Danny asked, his eyes narrowing in anger. Suddenly, as if to answer his question, his two best friends arrived on the scene.

"Sorry for not showing up earlier, man." Tucker said.

"Yeah, we had to help demagnetize Jenny." Sam explained.

"Demagnetize?" Ash said, raising an eyebrow.

"Long story short, she stuck to the metal lab equipment." Tucker said. "All that wasted money...they should totally make the lab virtual." Tucker said, grinning.

"Yay, another cut-off from the real world. Normally I don't mind the complete shutoff from anything social, but even I think that's pushing it a bit." Sam said.

"And speaking of pushing it, you should have heard Super Bitch." Ash said.

"Don't call my sister a bitch just because you can't understand division!" Danny shouted.

"Hey, at least he isn't singing." Yusuke said.

"Wellllllllll..." Ash started to break out in song, before getting a slam to the face from Yusuke's lunch tray.

"Don't EVEN go there." Yusuke warned.

"Wait a second..." Sam said, a bored expression now on her face. "A high school student doesn't know how to freakin' divide?!"

"I know how to divide!" Ash shouted.

"That's why you didn't know the symbol?" Yusuke said, a sly grin on his face.

"Listen, you..." he started to say, before he stopped, sat straight up, and his eyes turned green. Danny had overshadowed him.

"Hi, I'm Ash Ketchum! Please ignore the raging amount of testosterone and the flame-pattern jacket, I don't know basic math!" the Danny-possessed Ash said, inciting riotous laughter from Yusuke.

Meanwhile, not far away, a small, pink-haired winged humanoid smiled as he drew back his bow, and let an arrow fly, which ended up hitting Paulina in the general area of her tush.

"Ow! Stupid arrow!" she said, yanking it out, before 'accidentally' bumping into Sam, who then felt an arrow strike her in the knee.

"Watch it, lo--" Paulina trailed off, as she and Sam locked eyes. The two stared at each other for a few seconds, before their pupils were replaced by cartoon-y pink hearts.

"Wow...Sam, I never realized how great that Goth gear looks on you!" she said.

"I never noticed how unbelievably flawless you are!" Sam said, before the two of them locked lips, causing stares of horror from the guys, our heroes included. Yusuke simply cheered them on.

"WOOHOO!" he shouted. The gang then heard a click from Tucker's PDA.

"Uh...did that thing just take a picture?" Ash, now Danny-free, asked.

"Yep. This one's makin' its way into the yearbook." Tucker said, grinning.

"Ho-ly SHIT." Danny said, slowly.

Suddenly, Jazz came walking up again.

"Look, I really don't think it's a good idea for you to--" she started to say to Ash, before an arrow hit her backside. "OUCH!"

"Whoa, hey...you okay?" Ash asked, not actually caring whether she was okay or not, but his perrogative was to ensure the safety of every human being, although he could probably amass evidence that Jazz wasn't exactly human...somehow...

"Yeah, I think--" she started to say, before her eyes locked onto Ash.

"No, really...are you okay?" Ash asked again, not noticing that hearts had appeared in her eyes, in the place of her pupils.

"I'm...I'm fine..." she said, in a lovestruck voice.

"O...kay. Look, I know you're just being nice to me to try to get me to be your pupil again, but back off. I know you don't like me." Ash said.

"You're right. I don't like you..." Jazz trailed off.

"There. I knew it." Ash said, matter-of-factly.

"I LOVE YOU!" Jazz screamed out happily, as her arms unmercifully wrapped around the back of his neck, and an impossibly huge, toothy grin appeared on her face.

"Say WHAT?!" Ash exclaimed, his eyes widening so much, Yusuke, Tucker, and Danny thought they'd roll right out of their sockets.

"File this under 'What the hell?'." Yusuke said, his eyes narrowing.

"Definitely." Danny agreed.

"There is something WEIRD going on here." Tucker said. "Oh well." he continued, as his PDA clicked again. "Yearbook photo!"

Suddenly, an arrow hit Danny's backside. He closed his eyes and yelped in pain, as he yanked the arrow out.

"Danny, keep it down! How can I express my undying love to Ash if you keep making noise over there?!" Jazz snapped.

"Well, excuuuuuuuse me Miss..." Danny trailed off as his eyes locked onto his older sister. Hearts appeared in said eyes, as his smile became wavy.

"...Most beautiful girl in the world..." Danny said.

"Dude! Did you just call your sister the most beautiful girl in the world?" Tucker asked, eyes wide.

"Yep." Danny said, his smile still wavy. "She's so hot."

"DUDE!" Yusuke said, spitting out the food that was in his mouth. "She's your SISTER!"

"I don't have to take this!" Danny said angrily, as he grabbed onto Jazz's hand, the arm to which it was attached still wrapped tightly around Ash. "Come my dear, we can discuss this further in private!" as he went intangible, turning her intangible as well.

"I can't go! Ash and I haven't made out yet!" Jazz said, panicked, before Danny flew off with her.

"Ash, help me!" she cried out, as she and Danny flew off.

"You gonna help her?" Tucker asked, as Ash's expression slowly returned to boredom.

"Nope." Ash said. "That was ten kinds of creepy."

"You realize Danny took his sister somewhere to MAKE OUT." Yusuke stressed, his face now sporting an extremely grossed-out expression.

"Yeah, so? Whatever gets her away from me." Ash said, the bored expression still on his face.

* * *

Meanwhile, away from all the weirdness, Plasmius materialized next to the pink-haired fairy.

"Good job, Cupid. Almost all of them are distracted wonderfully." Plasmius said.

"This doesn't seem right, even to me." Cupid said. "That ghost kid's in love with his sister!"

Suddenly, Plasmius pulled out a bag of money.

"But that money makes it A-OK!" Cupid exclaimed happily, as dollar signs appeared in his eyes.

"Just to seal the deal...wreak havoc on the boy known as Ash Ketchum. If by chance Danny Phantom kills him in jealousy, my mission is complete, and you're one BILLION dollars richer." Plasmius said with a sneer.

"I'll make him so miserable, not even the joy that love brings will cheer him up!" Cupid said, excitedly, before disappearing in a heart-shaped puff of smoke.

"Excellent..." Plasmius said, before disappearing as well.

* * *

"Danny, put me down!" Jazz cried.

"No way!" Danny said.

"But we're getting away from Ash!" Jazz protested.

"Exactly!" Danny said. "Now that we're alone..." he trailed off, landing on a rooftop. "...We can discuss more...private...matters." he finished with a sly grin.

"Private matters?" Jazz asked, gulping afterward. "Danny, you realize we're brother and sister, right?"

"My love knows no bounds!" Danny exclaimed happily.

"Danny! We're RELATED!" Jazz shouted. "And I love Ash!" she continued, as the mention of Ash's name brought the cartoon hearts back to her eyes.

"And it's THAT reason that I brought you out here for! To get away from that bastard!" Danny said angrily.

"We're off of school property! We could get in BIG trouble if Mister Lancer finds out!" Jazz protested, futile, though it might have been. "I don't want to have to do this to you, Danny, but..." she trailed off, brandishing a can of pepper spray and spraying Danny in the eyes, causing him to howl in agony. In his aforementioned agony, he dropped Jazz, who bolted for the conveniently-placed staircase nearby.

* * *

Ash looked around, noticing Sam and Paulina making out. At the same time, he noticed Jenny walking up to Yusuke, blue cartoon hearts in her eyes.

"Uh oh..." Ash said to himself.

Yusuke looked up, and noticed Jenny staring at him intently.

"Uh...is there something on my face?" Yusuke asked.

"Yes, there is...now. " she muttered, as she kissed him.

"WHOA! WHAT THE HELL ARE YA DOING?!" Yusuke shouted.

"LOVING YOU!" Jenny screamed excitedly, before kissing Yusuke again.

"Oh shit." Yusuke said, then ran away from Casper High, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"WAIT! COME BACK! WE HAVEN'T EVEN MADE OUT YET!" Jenny screamed, running after Yusuke.

"There's an enemy of yours doing this, isn't there?" Tucker asked, his eyes narrowing.

"I don't REMEMBER any enemies that made my friends fall in love..." Ash said, his eyebrows arching. "Then again, I HAVE been hit in the head a lot." he added, looking down sheepishly. He was interrupted by a pair of familiar arms wrapping around his neck again. He didn't even have to look down or behind him to tell it was Jazz.

"How'd you get back here so fast?!" Ash asked.

"Oh you know, my undying love for you carried me right back here into your waiting arms." she answered.

A quick camera change revealed that Ash's arms were crossed in anger.

"Enough chitchat, let's make wedding plans!" Jazz said happily, the huge grin back on her face.

"Aha!" came Danny's voice. "Trying to take my girl, eh?" he asked, floating down with an angry look on his face.

"Okay, two things, pal. One, she's not your girl, she's your SISTER. Two, I'M NOT TRYING TO TAKE HER AT ALL! I'M DATING SOMEBODY ALREADY!" Ash shouted, at the top of his lungs. "Just GET HER AWAY FROM ME!"

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that..." Danny said, grabbing Jazz by the hand again, turning himself and her intangible, and flying off.

"Let me GO!" Jazz shouted at her lovestruck younger brother.

"No, I won't. Not again. I have a place where I can keep you all to myself. A place where very few people go..." Danny trailed off, then smirked.

* * *

"That should hold you while I take care of Ash. I can't let him win this duel!" Danny said, as he finishing securing Jazz's hands behind her back with some rope.

"Danny! Untie me NOW!" she shouted. "If I get a detention for this, I'll wring your neck!"

"Not until Ash is eating my dust!" Danny said. "I'll teach him to go messing around with my girl..." he growled, then finished with "Besides, we're on school property. Can't be busted if you're being held prisoner on school property, or for that matter, being held prisoner in general."

"I'M YOUR SISTER!" Jazz screamed at the top of her lungs.

"I told you, my love knows no bounds! Not even the bounds of what is generally considered taboo!" Danny said, anime-style tears coming out of his eyes as a dramatic background faded in behind him.

"What was that sound?" Danny heard someone say from above them. Someone else then spoke up. "Thought I heard some voices."

"Crap! Figures someone'd have to be around TODAY..." Danny said, sulking.

"Guess you'll have to let me go." Jazz said with a smirk.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that..." Danny said, also smirking, as he pulled out a roll of duct tape and ripped off a piece.

"What the hell do you think you're doing with that...mmph!" Jazz started to say, but was cut off as Danny gagged her with the piece of duct tape he'd just ripped off.

"Stay right here my love, I shall return!" Danny said, striking a macho pose before going intangible and flying through the ceiling.

'Not like I have a choice.' Jazz thought, as she mumbled something unintelligible into the tape covering her lips.

* * *

Ash still sat at the table he had been sitting in since lunch began, and Tucker still sat across from him, sproting a worried expression on his face.

"Aren't you at all worried about your friends?" Tucker asked, his eyebrows arching.

Ash looked on, with the same bored expression he sported since Danny left with Jazz again, before answering "Nope."

"Man, you're one cold dude." Tucker said, his eyes narrowing in anger.

"Maybe I am, but I'll tell you one thing I'm not. Getting in trouble with Lancer again." Ash said.

"Oh look, here comes Danny..." Tucker trailed off, then shouted "Hey, look out Ash!".

Ash, still looking bored, simply titled his head a bit to miss the ectoplasmic energy beam that Danny had fired when Tucker hollered.

"Let me guess, Danny..." Ash said, not checking behind him even once. "'Stay away from my girl', right?"

"I'm here to settle things between us, Ketchum." Danny growled.

"Yeah, about that..." Ash trailed off. "Considering I DON'T like Jazz, I don't think you're in trouble there."

"I don't buy that. Plus, even if you don't like her, she still likes you. You don't deserve her! She's far too kind..." Danny said.

"And she's your sister..." Ash said.

"And too beautiful..."

"And she's your sister..."

"And too loving..."

"...And she's your sister..."

"And she's just way too incredible for you!" Danny finished.

"Did I forget to mention that she's your older sister?" Ash asked, the same bored expression stuck to his face.

"He's got you there, Danny." Tucker said, shrugging.

"Whose side are you on, Tucker?!" Danny said, angrily.

"I'm gonna side with the person who doesn't go around commiting acts of incest in this case." Tucker answered.

"Huh...Jazz isn't hanging onto me." Ash realized, the same bored expression STILL on his face.

"Of course she isn't. I got her away from you." Danny said. "now prepare to pay for diverting Jazz's attention from me!" he shouted, before Ash simply pointed behind him, and said "Spirit Gun.".

The bullet flew quickly, and struck Danny square in the chest, knocking him to the ground and causing him to revert to his human form.

"OW! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" Danny shouted.

"You know damn well what that was for." Ash said, still not looking back.

"Uh...no. Come to think of it, where are Yusuke and Jazz?" Danny asked.

"Wait, wait, wait...you don't remember what happened?" Ash asked, his expression finally changing, from boredom to confusion.

"The last thing I remember is Jazz screaming that she loved you." Danny said, his eyes closed in concentration.

"Okay...so you don't remember your own undying proclamations of love?" Ash asked.

"No." Danny said, then asked "Why? Who'd I confess my love for?"

Ash and Tucker both exchanged nervous glances.

"...Your sister." Ash finally spoke up.

"...WHAT?!" Danny shouted.

"Look, we have fifteen minutes before lunch ends..." Ash said. "We have to track down the other people effected by this madness...OW!" he trailed off as an arrow hit him in the back end. "What the hell?!" he said, then his eyes locked onto Tucker.

* * *

"Ooh!" Cupid said, giddily. "This'll be interesting!"

He then watched as Ash leaned in closer to Tucker.

"Tucker, I didn't notice this before, but..." Ash trailed off.

"What is it, Ash?!" Tucker said, afraid he was going to get kissed by a guy.

"...You have a REALLY big hornet on your nose." Ash remarked.

"...Huh, how about that? I can't believe I didn't notice that...OUCH!" he shouted, as the hornet stung him on the nose, causing it to swell.

"Dee, dis if jutht great." Tucker said, his swollen nose affecting his voice.

"Hold on a sec...something's coming back to me, Ash..." Danny said. "Remember how all of us yelped in pain before becoming lovestruck?"

"Yeah. Look...there's an arrow stuck in my ass..." Ash said, acting like he wasn't paying attention.

"That's it! These arrows must contain some sort of love potion!" Danny realized. "But why didn't it affect you?"

"Let's compare notes...who all was hit, aside from me and you?" Ash asked, and then Tucker chimed in.

"Yenny, Yazz, Tham, and Paulida." Tucker said, his voice still affected by his nose.

"What's the difference between you all and me?" Ash asked.

"Aside from the fact that you've been dead before?" Danny asked, shrugging. "Hell, I don't know."

"I wish Misty was here, she could probably figure this out..." Ash said.

"Ash, you're a genius! My sister was right about you!" Danny said.

"Er...I am?" Ash said, grinning nervously.

"Yeah! The difference between us and you is...none of us have significant others!" Danny explained.

"Really? You'd think Paulina'd have a boyfriend or something..." Ash muttered.

"Okay, we've figured out three parts of this problem." Danny said. "One, we've figured out what's causing us to go mad with love. Two, we've figured out why you're not affected in the slightest by it, and three, we've figured out how to negate the effects. The only part of the problem left is...who's firing these arrows?" he asked.

"We'll figure that out. Just not immediately." Ash said. "This may sound weird coming from me, but do we have to slug 'em? I may end up hurting these people on accident. I'm not about hurting civillians." he explained, then muttered "No matter how much I want to bust your sister's chops." He then spoke up again "Oh yeah...we have to find Jazz. You told me you 'got her away from me'. When you flew off with her, you said you were taking her to a place that few people visit...then you flew into the school."

"The basement, perhaps?" Danny suggested.

"Worth a shot." Ash said, shrugging.

The two then dashed off, Tucker following them and shouting "Wade fer me!"

* * *

As the three of them entered the basement, Danny went intangible and began looking around for Jazz. Sure enough, after a few seconds, he found her behind some crates, her hands and feet bound, and her mouth gagged with tape. Seeing him go tangible again, Jazz muttered something from under the gag. Danny simply walked over and peeled the tape off.

"YEOWCH!" she shouted, as the tape came off. "WATCH IT!"

"Jazz..." Danny said. "I can't begin to apologize enough for what I may or may not have done." he continued, as he untied her.

"Wait...where's Ash?" Jazz asked.

"He beat the living crap out of me. I came back to my senses." Danny explained.

"Back to your senses?" Jazz asked, confused.

"Yeah, I was under a spell that made me fall in love with you." Danny elaborated.

"Oh...in that case...apology accepted." Jazz said, with a smile. "Now where's my knight in shining armor?" she asked, with hearts in her eyes once more.

"Uh...see, here's the thing. You're under a spell as well. You only THINK you're in love with Ash because you got hit with a love arrow." Danny explained.

"That's impossible! These feelings have never been more real!" Jazz said, and let out an excited squeal of joy as Ash poked his head out, and she ran over and jumped into his arms, which surprisingly reached out to catch her as she jumped.

"There you are, dear! I knew you'd come for me!" she exclaimed happily. "I was just sitting around thinking of names for our children!"

"We don't have any children." Ash said, his eyebrows arched.

"Not yet." Jazz said, in a seductive tone, which caused Ash to sweat. Jazz grinned slyly at Ash, and he then screamed "TIE HER UP AGAIN! TIE HER UP AGAIN!!"

"No can do, Ash." Danny said, smirking. "Lunch is almost over. We should get back to class."

"THANK YOU GOD!!!" Ash shouted at the top of his lungs.

* * *

Ash and Danny left the school, several hours later, both still trying to figure out the last part of this mystery.

"Who could be doing this?" Danny asked. "Who'd want to? I mean, it seems a little too contrived to me."

"Whatever you just said, I agree..." Ash said. "Can Plasmius make people fall in love?"

"Nope. If he could, he and my mom'd be married." Danny said.

"Oh yeah, that's right. He's in love with your mom. I mean, I guess I could see why...she's not bad-looking." Ash said, rubbing his chin in thought.

"Dude, you're talking about my MOM!" Danny shouted.

"And YOU were talking about your SISTER earlier...speaking of which...Jazz really said I was a genius?" Ash asked, his eyes widening ever-so-slightly.

"Not in so many words. You heard her at lunch." Danny said. "You ARE much smarter than you give yourself credit for, even if you don't comprehend division." he complimented.

"You think I should stick with your sister's tutoring?" Ash asked.

"All I'm saying is...I doubt anyone else will tutor a foreigner as open-mindedly as she would." Danny explained. "Besides, she's not so bad once you get to know her."

"I guess she's not unbearable..." Ash said, then asked "Shouldn't we be concentrating on finding this mystery demon, or ghost, or Nightmare, or whatever it is?"

"You're absolutely right." Danny said, and then he noticed that Ash's communicator was flashing.

"Hey, Ash. Your communicator's flashing." he commented nonchalantly.

"Huh? Weird...it should have made a noise of some sort." Ash said, rubbing his head before answering the beeping communicator.

"Enma, what's up?" Ash asked.

"Ash, I've been trying to reach you for three hours." Enma said, trying to keep his cool.

"Sorry, things have been hell. And I think my communicator got damaged in my fight with Plasmius last night. I didn't hear anything."

Ash explained.

"Hell? Ash, what's been going on in Amity Park?" Enma asked, a little worried.

"I'd like to know that myself." Ash said in response. "Everyone's been getting hit with these weird arrows and falling in love..." he started to say more, but Enma interrupted.

"Shit! I'm too late to warn you, then!" Enma cursed.

"Warn us?" Ash asked, his eyebrows arching.

"There's a fairy from Timmy's universe here in Amity Park." Enma started to explain.

"Three. You forgot that Cosmo and Wanda are here as well." Ash said.

"Right, right. This one's more powerful, though. His name is Cupid." Enma explained.

"Cupid? Of course." Danny said, burying his face in his right hand as they walked back toward their neighborhood.

"You know of Cupid?" Enma asked, surprised.

"Well, no, not personally. But everyone says he shows up around the world on Valentine's Day to spread love." Danny said. "But why would he show up today?"

"His arrows aren't the usual kind he uses." Enma said. "They'll only last until midnight, but there's a particularly nasty side effect to them."

"What's that?" Ash asked.

"The hormone levels of the victims go through the roof." Enma said.

"Well, that explains why Jazz was wanting to fuck me." Ash said, his eyes narrowing comically.

"And why Sam had no shame in making out with Paulina in the middle of over a hundred teens." Danny said.

"How the hell did Cupid get Jenny, though?!" Ash asked.

"His arrows can pierce anything, Ash." Enma said. "That's one of the perks to being the widely-hailed God of Love."

"So, that leaves us with a new question...what's Cupid's motive for doing this?" Danny asked.

"As the God of Love, I imagine it'd be for some noble purpose..." Ash said.

"Actually, he's being paid to do it, as a means of distracting all of you." Enma said, nonchalantly.

"But who would..." Ash started to ask, then he and Danny both spoke up at the same time, with the answer to Ash's unfinished question.

"Plasmius!" they said in unison.

"Carter's theory of criminal investigation." Danny said, with a smirk.

"What?" Ash asked, confused.

"...It's from Rush Hour 2." Danny explained, before saying, "Ah, forget it. Anyway, the theory is...follow the rich white guy." he said, smirking.

"Works for me..." Ash said. "To your house!" he then shouted, as he pointed his finger toward Danny's house, which was now in sight. The two walked up to the door and opened it. Walking in, they noticed Plasmius' secret identity, Vlad Masters, having tea with Jack and Maddie.

"Ah, Daniel! And your friend, er...what was your name again, son?" Vlad asked.

"You know DAMN well that my name's Ash." Ash said angrily.

"Ash, shut it..." Danny mouthed silently.

"Now Ash, we don't swear in this house, aside from when Jack drops a wrench on his barefoot." Maddie said, in a fairly stern tone.

"Which is all the damn time..." Jack said, his eyes narrowing in anger. Maddie then gave him a stern look as she elbowed him in the ribs.

"Ah yes, Ash." Vlad continued, after a moment of silence. "I trust you two are well?"

"Yes, yes we are." Danny said sternly. "Now, we're going to my room. Mister Masters, we needed to ask you a question, so please come to my room in a couple of minutes."

* * *

"Oh, of course, little badger." Vlad said.

Yusuke sat, with a bored expression on his face as Jazz started explaining the concept of algebra to him. He yawned, and quickly dosed off to sleep, as she was explaining the value of 'x'.

"Yusuke? Yusuke?" Jazz called his name, waving her hand in front of him. As she realized he was asleep, she smirked.

"Guess he won't miss me if I go look for Ash, then..." she whispered to herself, after noticing that Lancer hadn't returned yet.

She then scribbled a quick note and ran out through the door.

* * *

"You wanted to ask me something?" Vlad said, dropping the kind air he had put on in front of his 'college chums', now that he was away from them.

"Yeah. How'd you get Cupid here?" Ash asked.

"You idiot." Vlad said in response. "Anyone can accomplish that, with the amount of money I have, and the right technology."

"More importantly, WHY did you bring him here?" Danny asked, his face doing nothing to hide his anger.

"Oh, you know, shoot a few people, distract the lot of you. Meanwhile, I use the Fenton Portal to locate that pesky Spirit Stone."

Vlad said, smirking.

"Just like Enma said...too bad you won't be using the portal." Danny said, smirking back at the evil Vlad. "Or did you forget that it only opens when a Fenton touches the Genetic Lock?"

"You're right! Good thing I can overshadow your idiot father!" Vlad said, grinning evilly. "Of course, I didn't plan on doing this immediately. Watching you all squirm under the effects of Cupid's magic arrows was much too funny to pass up. Speaking of which, why aren't you out lusting after your own flesh and blood?" he asked, his eyebrow arching.

"Ash knocked some sense into me. Literally." Danny explained.

"And you!" Vlad said, turning to Ash with a scowl on his face. "Why weren't you affected?!"

"That's easy. I'm already dating somebody." Ash said, smirking.

"Really now..." Vlad said, before grinning evilly. "Good to know..."

"Oh...shit." Ash said. Suddenly, Danny's bedroom door flew open, smacking Vlad into the wall it would normally bang against.

"Ash, there you are!" Jazz said, running over and putting her arms around the boy whose name she'd just called out. Little cartoon hearts appeared above her head as she sported an "anime" smile and moved her head up and down slightly, rubbing against his neck.

"Don't worry, I'm fine..." Vlad muttered from behind the door, as he pushed it away from him.

"Get lost, creep! Can't you see I'm waxing romantic here?!" Jazz said, her anime-ish smile being replaced with a look of anger.

"Ah, young love." Vlad said, smirking at Ash. "I'll leave you lovebirds alone."

Vlad walked out of Danny's room, shutting the door behind him. Jazz then smiled seductively at Ash.

"Uh...Danny?" Ash asked, his eyes wide.

"Sorry, not going anywhere NEAR my overly-hormoned sister." Danny said, pulling out a comic book of his own adventures, which he had borrowed from Timmy the night before.

"Look, Jazz..." Ash started to say, but she put her index finger on his lips to silence him.

"It's okay. I don't bite. Unless you want me to." Jazz said, smiling at him.

"And now I'm leaving." Danny said, walking out of his room.

"WAIT! DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE WITH HER!" Ash shouted, at the top of his lungs.

"Why are you so tense, dear?" Jazz asked.

"Look, Jazz, I'd be lying if I said you weren't hot." Ash said, looking away. "But I'm not attracted to you. I have a girlfriend."

"Yeah, I know..." Jazz said, looking away for a moment, then the pulled up the covers on Danny's bed and crawled in. "She's right here in bed! Now, we won't be young forever! Are you getting in here with me, or do I have to drag you in with your pants down?!"

she asked, impatiently.

"Wow. Enma wasn't kidding." Ash said to himself. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but...you do NOT wanna have sex with me."

"I see we're playing this the hard way..." Jazz said, grinning, then holding up a familiar belt.

"Oops! Is this your belt in my hand?" she said, with a sly grin. Ash's pants then fell.

"Dammit Jazz! Give that back!" Ash shouted.

"Hey, what's going on up there?!" came Jack's voice.

'Oh look, it's Dad..." Danny said from somewhere in the hall outside. "What's up, Dad?"

"I thought I heard Ash swearing again." they heard Jack say. "Where is he?"

"He's in my room, with Jazz." they heard Danny say.

Danny then added "Alone..." with a sly grin, causing Jack's eyes to go wide.

"JASMINE FENTON, OPEN THIS DOOR NOW!" Jack shouted, at the top of his lungs, then banged on the door. "DO YOU HEAR ME, YOUNG LADY?!"

"Uh...Dad? The door's not locked." Danny said, twisting the doorknob to illustrate that it was, as he said, unlocked.

"Oh..." Jack said sheepishly, then silently added "Thanks son." before barging in...to see Jazz laying on the bed, with the sheets tucked in.

"Oh, hey Dad. What's going on?" she asked, not looking up from the book she was reading. Jack, being as inattentive as he was, failed to notice that she was glancing at a comic book, material that a psychologist-hopeful such as her generally stayed away from.

He also failed to notice the enormous lump under Danny's sheets next to her.

"I dunno, you tell me." Jack said. "Danny said Ash was in here with you."

"I haven't seen him since lunch ended earlier today." Jazz said, shrugging.

"Oh." Jack said, then, shrugging after hearing an unintelligible comment from Danny, left the room, closing the door behind him.

"You can come out now." Jazz said. Ash then crawled out from under the sheets.

"Holy crap, that was close. Uh...thanks." Ash said. "Man, the guy's dim, isn't he?"

"Yep." Jazz said. "Anyway...where were we?" she asked, grinning, before kissing Ash square on the lips.

* * *

"I thought Ash came home with you." Jack said.

"He did." Danny said.

"And I thought you said he was in there with Jazz." Jack said.

"He was. Musta left through the window." Danny said, shrugging. "Hey, this is pretty good." he added, reading about his initial battle with Skulker.

"Hmm..." Jack said, narrowing his eyes, before finally realizing that Jazz had been reading a comic book. Before he could open the door again, though, Ash actually broke through it, screaming as he ran, and tripping due to his pants being down at his ankles. He tripped and fell all the way down the stairs, then, receiving weird stares from Maddie and Vlad, ran out of the house and across the street to his apartment.

Jazz poked her head out of the broken door and shouted "Hey! Where're you going?!", right before noticing Jack and grinning sheepishly. Jack just looked on casually, before walking back down the stairs. Jazz simply turned to Danny with a scowl on her face and said "Traitor."

* * *

Yusuke was startled awake by a loud banging on the wall seperating him from the outside world.

"Yusuke, my darling! I've come for you!" Jenny's voice called from beyond the wall.

"Oh dear God." Yusuke said, cringing. Just then, Lancer returned, and Yusuke thanked Buddha loudly.

"Mister Urameshi, what are you doing?!" Lancer said, angrily.

Just then, the wall crumbled, revealing Jenny, who still had cartoon hearts in her eyes.

"_GULLIVER'S TRAVELS_!" Lancer shouted.

"Yusuke! Let's go get married immediately!" Jenny shouted.

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, **HELP ME**!" Yusuke screamed at the top of his lungs, before charging out of Lancer's classroom.

"YUSUKE URAMESHI, YOU'RE STILL IN DETENTION! GET **_BACK_** HERE, YOUNG MAN!" Lancer shouted after him, but Yusuke was long gone at this point.

* * *

Ash bolted into the apartment, getting weird stares from Mac, Bloo, Timmy, Jimmy, Cosmo, and Wanda, before all burst out into riotous laughter.

"What happened to your pants?!" Bloo asked, between fits of laughter.

"I'll tell you what happened. Jazz happened." Ash said, his eyes narrowed in frustration. "She was rippin' off my pants and trying to ride me!"

"Danny's sister?!" Wanda asked. "I thought she hated you!"

"Who's Danny?" Cosmo asked vacantly, then noticed Ash's jacket. "AAH! FIRE!" he shouted. Before he could do anything though, Wanda dropped a bucket of water on his head.

"Thanks Wanda." Ash said. "Answeing your question, yes. Yes she does. But she thinks she loves me, due to this stupid fairy named Cupid."

"Cupid?! Cupid's HERE?!" Timmy exclaimed, gasping before doing so.

"I'm guessing you know him already..." Ash said, his expression turning to that of boredom.

"Yep." Timmy said, an equally bored expression on his face.

"So, maybe you know of a way to break Cupid's spell?" Ash asked, then added "I'm desperate. Jazz will NOT leave me alone."

"I will do this thing which you have asked..." Timmy said, ominously. "But for this, I require something in ret--ah screw it, I'm bored."

"Why not just use this DNA tracker?" Jimmy asked with a monotone, then zapped himself with a weird-looking mechanical stick.

"Well, the Monotone Ray works." he said, in his normal voice. "Anyway, this DNA tracker can lock onto a specific source of DNA. Human, nightmare, fairy--" he started to explain, but Timmy then piped up.

"Hologram!" he said.

"Exactly." Jimmy said, and they both grinned slyly.

"Sweet. Now...anyone got a belt?" Ash asked, burying his face in his left hand as their laughter resumed.

"Never mind."

* * *

Ash ran to the library, after finding a discarded pair of suspenders. Meeting him there were Danny, Yusuke, and Tucker, the latter's nose finally reduced in swelling after the hornet sting from earlier in the afternoon.

"Oh no...this IS the library!" Yusuke shouted. "Ash, you've crossed over to the dark side!" he said, pointing a finger at Ash.

"Yusuke's crazy talk aside, why DID you ask us to meet you at the library?" Danny asked, his eyebrows arching.

"Because this is the one place Jazz would never look for me." Ash said.

"Oh..." Danny, Tucker, and Yusuke said collectively.

"Bye then." Yusuke said, with a bored expression on his face. Ash simply smirked in reply, before adding "Is that Jenny I hear?"

"WHERE?!" Yusuke shouted, his expression suddenly turning very frightful.

"I dunno, but you'd better duck into the library." Ash said, and Yusuke quickly obeyed, dashing into the library at full speed.

"YUSUKE! _YUSUKE_!" came the far away voice of Jenny.

"And **now** he can't call me a liar." Ash said, smirking, before looking around and then walking inside.

* * *

Inside the library, Ash noticed Yusuke already on a computer, looking up internet porn.

"Figures." Ash said, with a bored expression on his face.

"What? It's educational!" Yusuke said, defensively.

"Bastard." Tucker said, his eyes narrowing in slight anger.

"Yeah, doesn't your wife put out enough for ya?" Ash asked, casually.

"SHHH!" they suddenly heard a whole bunch of voices 'say'.

"What the...?" Ash said, then remembered where they were. "Library, right." he whispered.

"So...why are we here?" Yusuke whispered.

"Cupid." Ash silently answered. "Jimmy's DNA tracker pinpointed his location. He's somewhere inside the building."

"Weird...why would Cupid be in a library?" Tucker whispered. "He's widely-known as the God of Love, not the God of Knowledge."

"No clue. But we need to catch him off-guard, so we can get him to break the spell." Ash whispered back.

"Just so you know..." whispered a voice from behind Ash, "I can hear you."

The four boys turned, to see Cupid standing, or rather, floating behind them.

"Good." Ash said. "Then I don't have to repeat myself! _**Get 'im, guys**_!" he shouted, before the mandatory "SHHH!" sounded out. The four then leapt at Cupid, who screamed in an extremely high-pitched tone.

* * *

A knock sounded out throughout the medium-sized apartment. The knock sounded somewhat panicked. Timmy looked up from his 'Danny Phantom' issue and asked "Anyone else wanna get that?"

"Busy recalibrating my jetpack backpack." Jimmy said, with a bored expression on his face.

"IT'S MINE! MINE!" Bloo shouted, as he raced through the hallway, holding a printed out picture of Jazz's birthmark.

"NOT ON YOUR LIFE, JERKASS!" Mac shouted, diving at Bloo.

"Never mind." Timmy said, a bored expression appearing on his face as he got up to open the door. When he opened it, though, hearts appeared in his eyes, not sue to Cupid's love arrows, but due to his own slight crush on the girl at the door...Jazz. Instead of being in her regular attire, she was clad in a white, frilly wedding dress.

"Hi Jazz..." Timmy said, as though he were hypnotized.

"Hey...Timmy, right?" she asked, grinning somewhat psychotically.

"Yeah, that's right." Timmy said, the hearts not leaving his eyes.

"Is Ash home?" Jazz asked, hearts appearing in her eyes as well. "He needs to slip into this!" she announced, holding up a tuxedo.

"A tux? What for?" Timmy said, fearing her answer.

"We're getting MARRIED!" Jazz answered with an extreme level of ecstacy. Timmy's pupils suddenly shrank, and the 'camera' zoomed out as he shouted "_**NOOOOOOOO!!!**_"

"You're looking for Ash Ketchum, you said?" came a voice from behind Jazz. She turned, just enough for Timmy to see who was there.

"Wayne?! Wayne Williams?!" Timmy asked, in horror.

"That's right, you little turd. I'm here as well." Wayne said, with a sneer.

"Battle positions!" Bloo cried, as the four heroes currently in the house went into battle stances. Jazz simply looked on, confused.

"Save your strength." Wayne said, with his trademark smirk. "None of you could ever hope to win against me. It'd totally suck for you if I were here for destructive purposes."

"You mean you're NOT here to destroy everything in sight?" Jimmy asked, shocked.

"Nope. Just to tell this girl where her little boyfriend is." Wayne said, still smirking.

"You know where Ash is?! And you haven't told me yet?!" Jazz shouted, snarling at Wayne.

"Easy there. He's hiding from you at the library." Wayne said, the smirk looking like it was permanently stuck to his face.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?!" Jazz shouted, then ran off toward the library.

"Oh, you bastard." Timmy said.

"Yeah, I'm a real douchebag." Wayne said, chuckling to himself. "So...ya got any cigarettes?"

"I'm eleven." Timmy said.

"Do you want to avoid a fucking noogie or not?!" Wayne looked pissed off. "I warn you, I don't fuck around when it comes to these things. I may, you know, forget my own strength and sand your goddamn head down to nothing, so to speak. Not that there's much inside of it to begin with."

"Eep!" Timmy then looked over at Cosmo and Wanda(Who were now in the shape of two cats, green and pink, respectively.) , who responded by covertly raising their wands. Suddenly, a pack of cigarettes appeared in on of Timmy's hands, which he handed over to Wayne immediately afterward.

"Damn. There goes my fun. Oh well...these cigarettes will more than make up for it." Wayne smirked,as he shoved Timmy to the ground and walked inside, planting himself on the couch next to Jimmy.

"That's better." he said, as he stepped on Cosmo's tail while trying to get comfortable. "What kinda junk do you jackasses have to eat around here?" he immediately whipped out one of his cigarettes and ignited his lighter, taking a puff to make sure the cigarette had started to burn. "Yeah, this is the life."

"Why the hell are you getting comfortable on our couch?!" Jimmy asked.

"Cause I can, twerp. Your wonderful leader isn't here to stop me." Wayne grinned evilly.

"Uh, sir? All we could find was Ash's 'emergency rations'." Bloo said meekly, holding uip said 'emergency rations'.

"A jug of sake? I guess it'll do." Wayne said, opening the jug and immediately chugging down as much sake as he could.

* * *

Meanwhile, over at an Italian restaurant, Sam and Paulina had finally taken time out to do something aside from shamelessly making out in front of nearly every boy that had a crush on the latter. The two were sharing a plate of spaghetti, when suddenly they noticed that they were slurping on the same noodle. Upon noticing this, the two of them continued to slurp the noodle, although with more vigor than before. As they got extremely close, the chef walked by with a pair of scissors, and used said scissors to cut the noodle.

"Ohhhhh no, There'll be no cheesy Lady and the Tramp-ish scenes in MY restaurant." the chef said. Sam and Paulina simply shrugged and started making out again.

* * *

"That's it! We gotcha now!" Danny cried, as he,Tucker, and Yusuke held Cupid down.

"Who ordered a wing clipping?" Ash asked with a smirk, making the Rift Sword appear in his hands

"SHHH!" came the collective hisses of the various other people inhabiting the library.

"Alright!" Ash whispered angrily, then continued whispering to Cupid. "If you wanna keep your wings, break the spell over our friends...and the bossy bitch who happens to be related to Danny there." he finished, pointing at Danny.

"Hey!" Danny cried silently.

"You drive a hard bargain, but...if you gimme all the money in your pockets, I think we can make a deal." Cupid said, narrowing his eyes and grinning.

"How about I just blast you?" Ash asked, pointing his right index finger at Cupid.

"Oh Ash! You're so manly!" came the voice of Jazz, as she appeared from nowhere, grinning psychotically as her arms locked around Ash. To his great surprise, no one shushed her from her loud praise of him.

"Hey." Ash said, at regular volume. "How come she doesn't get shushed?"

Jazz released one arm from around Ash long enough to hold up her wallet, which contained a "Volunteer of the Month" card.

"Ah, the rewards of communal volunteering." she said, grinning normally, before resuming her psychotic grin.

"Uh...what was your plan again?" Ash asked, causing Cupid's pupils to get replaced with dollar signs as he grinned widely. He then pulled out an arrow with a heart tip on it, and...

* * *

Sam and Paulina were still making out at the Italian restaurant, when suddenly, magic sparkles appeared over their heads. Their eyes narrowed for a second, before widening as much as possible as they both screamed in horror and let go of each other.

* * *

Jenny knocked over the library wall as she ran for Yusuke, after picking him up with her X-ray vision. Just before she reached him, though, magic sparkles appeared above her head, and she stood there with an absent-minded look on her face.

"Uh...where _am_ I?" she asked herself, before realizing where she was.

"Why am I in the library?" she asked, right before a book fell into her conveniently outstretched hand.

"Overdue book?" Yusuke said. "Yeah, that's it. And you certainly weren't coming here to make out with me. Because that's **creepy**." he finished, his eyes narrowing in terror.

* * *

Suddenly, Jazz's grip on Ash loosened, as magic sparkles appeared over her head. Her eyes narrowed as she let out a low moan, and fainted...right into Ash's arms. He looked down at her unconscious form, and a smile slowly appeared on his face.

"You know, she doesn't seem like such a Naggy McNaggerson when she's asleep. She almost seems...normal." he said, then he noticed the grins adorning the faces of Danny and Tucker.

"Uh..." Ash trailed off, grinning sheepishly at them.

* * *

Meanwhile, Wayne's eyes were swirling, on account of drinking all of Ash's sake.

"No thanks, mommy. I need to get some sleep. BIG test tomorrow." Wayne muttered.

"Uh...am I missing something?" Timmy asked.

"I uh...I think he's DRUNK." Jimmy stated, his eyes wide.

"...Drunk? Ash keeps BOOZE in the fridge's vegetable compartment?" Wanda was stunned.

"Not anymore." Jimmy smirked, looking over at Wayne. "Hey. Let's draw on him!" he said, eliciting girlish giggles from Timmy, Cosmo, and Wanda.

* * *

Ash walked into the apartment less than an hour later, and immediately began to laugh his ass off when he saw Wayne with a crudely-drawn ass on his left cheek, and an equally-crude drawing of a penis on his right cheek

"What...the...freaking...hell...?!" Ash gasped between fits of laughter.

"The Toothinator strikes!" Timmy laughed evilly.

"Oh...hey Ash." Wayne slurred, looking extremely relaxed. "Did I ever tell you that I reshpect'chu? You got gutsh. That'sh why I love you, man. I love you, guy." he stammered, looking to be on the verge of tears.

"Okay Wayne...I think you had a bit too much to drink." Ash said. "Which means I have to assume SOMEONE raided the vegetable box in the fridge. Now, I could sit here and name Bloos...er, I mean, names, but that gets us nowhere fast. So I tell you what, Wayne. I'm gonna help you to the door." he then grabbed wayne under his arms and hefted him up.

"Thanksh, Ash. That'sh really nish of you..." Wayne smiled, his head bobbing every which way as Ash helped him, instead, to the living room window.

"No problem. Now remember, the landing's gonna hurt a bit at first, but you just walk it off, buddy." Ash said, then as Wayne turned to face him, Ash punched the evil drunk redhead, sending him flying out of the window. As the sound of him landing echoed, Danny's voice could be heard saying "DAMN. That RULED."

* * *

The next day, Ash was at his locker, with Danny, Tucker, and Yusuke.

"So, everything's back to normal?" Yusuke said.

"As far as I know, which means I'm still out one tutor." Ash said. "I never thought I'd say this, but I DO need help. That's why I got these roses." he continued, opening his locker and picking up a bouquet of roses. "As a token of apology."

"And they're very lovely roses." came a voice from behind Ash. The voice of the person he planned on giving the roses to. He turned around, to see Jazz, smiling at him.

"Uh...hey." Ash said, holding out the roses. "These are for you. I wanted to say...I'm sorry for treating you so crappily. You're not THAT bad." he said, looking away.

"And like I said, you're not as dumb as you make yourself out to be." Jazz said.

"So, apology accepted?" Ash asked.

"Apology accepted." Jazz said. "Now I have something for you..." she trailed off, holding up the same tuxedo she showed Timmy earlier.

"Whoa, what're ya doing?!" Ash asked, his eyes widening, as Jazz gave him a hug, then said in a lovestruck voice, "Don't you remember? We're getting married..."

Ash suddenly started to scream, at the top of his lungs. Jazz then started to crack up.

"You should have seen the look on your face!" she exclaimed, laughing.

"Oh...it was a joke. Wait a second...you can joke?!" Ash asked, his eyes widening again. Jazz then got a frustrated look on her face, before Ash said, "Kidding!"

Suddenly, all five of them suddenly started laughing.

"Why are we laughing too?" Tucker asked, as they laughed.

"I don't know!" Danny exclaimed. "But let's do it anyway!"

And so the camera faded out, with the five of them laughing.


	29. Rockin' with Chip Skylark

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 29:Rockin' with Chip Skylark

A mega crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke.

* * *

Again, there's a lovely disclaimer in both of the season premiere episodes, so please read it there. On with episode 29!

* * *

Our story today begins at the Fenton Household, where Ash and Yusuke are once again being tutored by Jazz.

"So, Ash, if you divide one hundred from seventeen thousand, what would you get?" Jazz asked, smiling over at her young pupil.

"I thought you were gonna give me a hard one. One hundred and seventy times exactly." Ash said, sounding as though he'd just solved world hunger.

"Very good. You've come quite a long way in these past couple of weeks." Jazz complimented. "Now, Yusuke..." she trailed off, noticing he was asleep.

"Rough night last night?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

"What was your first clue?" Ash asked, his eyes also narrowing. "That Box Ghost is so god damn annoying."

"Ash!" Jazz protested, her eyes widening as Jack barged into the room, his eyes wide with rage.

"HOW MANY TIMES HAVE WE TOLD YOU NOT TO SWEAR IN THE PAST COUPLE OF WEEKS, YOUNG MAN?!" Jack shouted, then continued to say, in a calmer voice, "Now Ash, do I have to wash out your mouth with Fenton Soap?" he asked.

"Fenton Soap?" Ash asked, confused.

"It cleans your skin, and guards against ghosts! And it has my face on it!" Jack said, holding up a bar, which, sure enough, had his face on it.

"And if you swear again, it will be my great privilege to wash your mouth out with it!" he exclaimed.

"Uh...Dad? Has that stuff been tested on humans?" Jazz asked, her eyebrow arching.

"Well, uh...no..." Jack trailed off, then said excitedly, "I'll give you twenty bucks if you'll test it now!"

"Pass." Jazz said, her eyes narrowing in anger.

"Aw man..." Jack said, slumping out of the room.

Suddenly, Ash and Jazz heard a voice on the television.

"Yo, yo, yo, word up dawg! We're here live, on Teeth TV!" came the announcer's voice. "I'm Brad Cuspidor! Here with me is teen singing sensation, Chip Skylark! A big fat welcome, Chip!"

"Thanks, Brad!" came another voice. Ash could only assume it was the voice of said teen singing sensation. "Always a pleasure to be here!"

"So tell us about the Shiny Teeth Tour!" Brad's voice came again.

"Alright! We're heading across the country to promote a special mix of my hit single, Shiny Teeth!" Chip's voice responded. "We'll be starting the tour in a place called Amity Park!"

Ash looked over at Jazz, who made some kind of suppressed noise as her eyes widened so much, Ash was afraid her eyeballs would roll right out of her sockets. Suddenly, the house was filled with Jazz's joyous screaming.

"Whoa! Could ya please warn a person before doing that?!" Ash shouted.

"Sorry, but I love Chip Skylark!" Jazz exclaimed, as she pulled out a picture of Chip and hugged it to her chest, cartoonish hearts appearing over her head as she did so.

"Tickets are a hundred dollars at the Amity Park Amphitheatre!" came Chip's voice.

Jazz immediately pulled out her wallet and counted the money inside.

"Dammit! Only eighty! Where can I get twenty buc--" she cut herself off, remembering Jack's offer from a few minutes ago.

"Keep working on that homework, Ash. I'll be back in a few seconds." she said, smirking. As she walked away, Ash could hear her call out "Oh, Daddy?" in a singsong voice.

* * *

(Title)Rockin' with Chip Skylark!

(Subtitle)Don't stay out too late!

(Jingle)Synthesizer

(Image)Ash and Jazz are on stage with Chip Skylark, both of them showing Ash's trademark "V for Victory" sign. Chip is wailing on his "Chip" guitar, and Ember is peering from behind the curtain with a wicked grin on her face.

Special Guests: Ember - Tara Strong

Chip Skylark - Chris Kirkpatrick

* * *

Meanwhile, in his room, Danny was talking to Tucker through the use of his cell phone.

"Hey, Chip Skylark's coming to Amity Park." Tucker informed Danny.

"That MIGHT be why Jazz screamed about a minute back. She's a rather big Skylark fan." Danny responded.

"I can totally get us imitation tickets." Tucker said. "We can FAKE our way in!"

"Tuck! That goes against everything I stand for as a hero!" Danny said, then after a moment of silence, he continued. "Totally get us some imitation tickets."

"Done and doner!" came Tucker's sly voice. "Let's meet up at Nasty Burger in an hour!"

"Okay. Your treat?" Danny asked.

"My treat." came Tucker's voice.

"Wait, what about Sam?" Danny asked. "I know she hasn't left home in a week, have you heard from her at all?"

"Last time I talked to her, she mentioned something about needing to switch Toothpaste brands."

"Why?"

"Something about being able to taste her brand in Paulina's mouth."

"That would be really hot if the whole day hadn't been ruined by the fact that I kidnapped, bound, and gagged my sister while confessing my eternal love for her, something I don't have." a very frustrated Danny said.

"Oh, 'course you don't!" Tucker chuckled nervously, while making a mental note to be more careful around Danny.

Danny let out a sigh, "I'll meet you at the Nasty Burger."

"'Kay, later."

"Later." Danny close his phone and flopped onto his bed. "Okay...now to get down to business..." he turned on his personal CD player, which currently was occupied by a Dumpty Humpty CD.

* * *

"So, me and Jen were talking the other day, and...WHOA." Ash said, interrupted by Jazz walking into the room. She looked freaked out, more than likely due to the effects of the Fenton Soap.

"Please...tell me I was hallucinating! Tell me my skin isn't green!" Jazz ran over and shook Ash by the shoulders.

"I would say that...but I'd be lyin'." Ash said, snickering a bit at Jazz's new skin color.

"...MUST...KILL...DAD..." she said, her teeth grinding together as she stormed toward the living room.

"Uh...what about...?" Ash started to say, but Jazz angrily cut him off.

"It's six! You're done! Go the hell home!"

Ash glanced up at the kitchen clock, which actually read "5:37".

"Uh...we still have about..."

"No we don't! Get out!" Jazz shouted from the living room. Before Ash could retort, the loud noise of Teeth TV was blasted throughout the household.

"Works for me." Ash said, shrugging and throwing the unconscious Yusuke over his shoulder.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the basement lab of Fentonworks, Jack and Maddie were sitting in fron of a table with many beakers on it, Jack looking down at Maddie as she tinkered away at their latest invention. The two failed to notice the teenage ghost emerging from the Fenton Portal. This ghost had flowing blue hair, in a flaming ponytail. She smirked as she realized she wasn't being watched by the two adults.

"Stupid old farts." she said quietly, with a grin. As she phased through the ceiling, she noticed the blaringly-loud TV. Namely, a sentence that was spoken as she phased through.

"Don't miss Chip Skylark, live in Amity Park! This will be the biggest rock concert of all time!"

"G'HUH?!" the ghost shouted, as she phased through the living room ceiling.

"That poser BITCH thinks he can put on a better show than ME?!" she shouted, emerging on the rooftop of Fentonworks.

"We'll see about that. Ember McClain is back and ready to rock this world!"

* * *

Down in the basement once again, Maddie suddenly looked away from her invention and up at Jack.

"You ever feel like you could have caught a ghost if you weren't busy working on such a useless invention?" she commented.

"Come on baby, the Fenton Calculator is an awesome invention! It does math at twice the speed of a normal calculator, AND it does your Trigonometry homework FOR YOU! HA! Take that Miss Flabberghast!" Jack shouted in triumph.

"Jack, you haven't had Trigonometry in nearly thirty years." Maddie said, her eyes narrowing.

"...Oh yeah."

* * *

Meanwhile, in another time and place...

"Come on, focus damn it!" came the voice of a short, blonde teenager with a metallic right arm.

"I'm trying!" was Misty's reply.

"Brother, she's not from here. It's going to be extremely hard to teach her alchemy!" came another unfamiliar voice, belonging to a giant suit of armor.

"Don't you think I realize that, Al?!" was the blonde teen's reply. "But if I could, just think of the possibilities!"

"Come on, don't stop to talk to your brother, Ed. Teach me, damn it!"

"Fine, here comes the next wave!" Ed shouted, and as the scene faded, Misty's scream of agony could be heard.

* * *

As a group of Chip Skylark fans passed their table, Danny, Tucker, and Sam simply looked on, having nothing better to do.

"Chip Skylark? That loser teen wasteoid who got lucky with his song about his teeth? Ugh. So two years ago." Sam moaned.

"Hey, his teeth are shiny. You can't deny the shiny." Tucker commented, taking a bite of his Mighty Meaty Burger.

"Hey Danny, want a bite of my all-organic onion rings?" Sam held up a bag filled with simple onion rings, sans bread.

"Non-breaded? Pass." Danny's eyes narrowed. "So, where the hell were you all week?"

"There are some things you're better off not knowing..." Sam's voice trailed off, as a light appeared across her eyes, the camera zooming in on her face.

"Ooh, that was neat, Tucker!" she said, as the camera zoomed out again, revealing the light's source: Tucker's PDA.

"Do that again." her eyes narrowed as she grinned.

* * *

"Hey Ja..." Ash started, as he walked by the bathroom. He stopped, however, noticing that Jazz's skin was no longer green.

"Hey...how'd you wash that green out of your skin already?"

"Oh, I didn't. I used makeup to cover it all up."

"You can do that?" Ash looked amazed.

"Oh, you'd be surprised at how easy it is to do..." Jazz trailed off, grinning somewhat evilly as the camera zoomed in on a closeup of her face, the same lighting effect used on Sam's face appearing once more. Suddenly the camera zoomed out to reveal Danny now standing there with Tucker's PDA in hand.

"Hey guys, check out what Tuck's PDA can do now!"

"Cool!" Jazz said enthusiastically.

* * *

Meanwhile, down in the kitchen, Jack and Maddie stood, looking down at Yusuke's sleeping form.

"You think Jasmine bored him to death?" Jack asked.

"Jack, that's your daughter you're talking down about!" Maddie scolded.

"I know, I know...but seriously, you think she bored him to death?" Maddie's only response this time was a shrug.

"Wanna poke him with a stick?" Jack's eyes lit up.

"You think we should? I mean, he's kinda cutesy when he sleeps. I don't think I have the heart to wake him up..." Maddies' eyes narrowed angrily as she watched Jack pick up a stick and poke Yusuke in the ribs.

"Hey, this is pretty fun. Poke poke poke..." Jack was suddenly cut off by Yusuke punching him in the stomach.

"Cut it out, numbnuts." Yusuke said bluntly.

"10-4..." Jack squeaked, falling over.

* * *

"Afternoon." Riku spoke to Osaka as she walked by. The two had been talking for a few days now, though it didn't seem to be anything serious. Mostly passing conversations when Osaka would walk by Riku as he was doing his chores. This stemmed mostly from the fact that all Riku did was work, though to his pleasant surprise, Osaka would usually stay and have quite lenghthy conversations with him.

"Heya." Osaka replied to him, giving a small yet friendly smile. She saw him in a different light nowadays. She believed that he really wanted to repent for all that he had donr. 'That, and he's kinda cute to boot.' She thought to herself.

All of a sudden, it happened again. Riku just stood there, staring into her almond eyes. His face began to turn bright red, and he felt himself melting as he looked. She was wearing merely a pink shirt, with jeans and a jean jacket, but at that moment, she was gorgeous.

Osaka just stood there, staring into his watery blue eyes, so purified, that at times, she thought she could see her own reflection in them, and she too, began to blush. He was wearing his usual, cat ears, cat tail, and french maid outfit, but at that moment, he was adorable.

They stood there for what seemed like, and to an extent, was, the longest time. Nothing broke their concentration on one another. Not even Ratty, who in the course of ten minutes, came by, said hello, came back, said 'Fuck Y'all,' poked Riku in the nuts, smacked Osaka on the ass twice, cussed for about three more minutes, then left, assuming they were both dead.

After and unspecified amount of time (though it was at least ten minutes), they finally snapped back, looking away from each other in embarassment, and both were very bright red as proof.

"Tha' was...wierd..." Osaka broke the unnerving silence.

"Y..yeah.." Riku replied. There was another long silence, and his heart began to pound rapidly. 'Alright Riku,' He thought. 'This is your chance, do it.' Swallowing hard, Riku nodded to himself, and turned around to face her, though she herself was still facing away, blushing of course. "H...hey...Ayumu?" Riku always called her by her proper name.She finally turned around, managing most of the red away from her face.

"Yeah?" She inquired, her voice tender as ever. Riku swallowed hard once again.

"I've...uhh...got all my chores done for...the day...Wanna go for a walk?" Riku shrugged, giving a half-ass 'I don't know how to smile very well' grin at her, which just caused her to giggle.

"Yeah, sure, I'd like that." She replied. :Riku seemed happy with the response. Giving her a genuine smile, which he didn't consciously know he was doing, the two walked side by side.

'Alright Riku,' He thought again. 'You can do this.' Riku swallowed again, hard and loud, and how Osaka didn't hear it remains a mystery.

With his heart pounding at a million beats per second, it seemed, Riku reached down, grazing his rough, battle worn hand against her soft, tender one. Chills flew up his spine, and he almost pulled away, had it not been for what had happened next, an act which turned out to be one of the happiest surprises in the young life of Riku Kurosawa.

Ayumu Kasuga took his hand in hers, lacing her fingers around his.

Riku jerked at first, but then became calm, after a confused look from her. Riku just smiled, dismissing any thoughts that he didn't like it. Ayumu just smiled in return. Hand in hand, they walked down the hallways of Spirit World castle. talking, learning about one another, happily.

A lifelong relationship had been forged that day.

* * *

A week passed in no time. As Danny and Tucker were walking to the concert, Danny's ghost sense went off.

"Aw CRAP. Who is it no--" Danny started, but was cut off via a large purple wave of energy hitting him in the back and flooring him.

"Hiya dipstick!" came Ember's voice as she became visible. "Miss me?"

"Ember McClain?!" Danny said, transforming into his alter-ego. "Why the hell did you have to come back on the night of the biggest concert of the year?!"

"Shows how pathetic your dumbass ghost sense has gotten since I've been gone! I've been in town all week! And the only reason I'm back this time is to upstage that bitch Chip Skylark!"

"Oh no you don't! You're not going to kill Chip skylark so his millions of fans'll turn to you!" Danny shouted, going into a battle pose.

"I was just gonna build my own stage and try to play my guitar louder than him, but your idea is infinitely more bitchin'!" Ember grinned evilly as she floated off.

"Here's a thought. Stop giving your enemies ideas!" Tucker's eyes narrowed in anger.

"Yeah, I _REALLY_ gotta work on that." Danny sighed. "Well, for the time being...I don't think Ember'll try anything until tonight. When we get inside the concert, I'll go prodding around for that has-been."

"Gotcha...looks like we're some of the first people here, dude!" Tucker said triumphantly. Danny's eyes widened as he recognized two people in front of him, though. Wayne and Motoko stood with tickets in their hands, in front of the ticket scalper.

"Excuse me, patron. I would like to request entrance into your amphitheater in exchange for these two pieces of paper, as is the custom of these events." Wayne never once cracked a smile as he forced his hand upward.

"In you go. May the Force be with you, child..." said the overweight, nerdy ticket scalper, as he took the two tickets.

"Whatever." Wayne and Motoko passed the spinning gate.

"Okay, hand me my ticket, Tuck." Danny said.

"Here ya go." Tucker handed the ticket over. Danny looked pissed as he saw the ticket, for it was merely a scrap of paper with the words "Totally Real Chip Skylark Ticket" on it.

"Yeah, THAT'LL get us in." Danny rolled his eyes as they walked up to the ticket scalper.

"Halt! I, Qui Gon Stan, will not let you pass without a totally real ticket!" the scalper said.

"Hey Stan." Danny waved.

"Do not speak with me as if you know me!" he paused for a second, sighed, and continued. "Yo Danny."

"Here's our 'totally real' tickets." Danny handed over his and Tucker's obviously fake tickets, After a few seconds, Stan said "Everything looks to be in order. You may pass. May the Force be with you, children..."

"Yeah...ditto." Danny shoved Tucker forward as they entered the spinning gate.

* * *

"Why are we here again, Master?" Motoko asked, puzzled.

"To destroy all retarded pop culture icons, including that stupid pretty boy poser, Chip Skylark." Wayne growled.

"This doesn't seem to be furthering your plan much..."

"Even I have to deviate from my plans once in a while. Just wait here while I go waste that annoyance...after the inevitable witty banter between me and one of my enemies." Wayne's eyes narrowed somewhat as he hunched over, draping his arms over his knees.

* * *

"You're set to go on in an hour, Chip." one of the stagehands told Chip as he prepared for his fans.

"Thanks. Do my teeth look good?" he asked, grinning from ear to ear. The stagehand then stumbled back, with a cry of "I'M BLIND!"

"Yep..." Chip grinned in relaxation, not noticing the teenage female ghost poking her head in.

"There he is...one blast from my guitar and it's all over! I'll win his fans over immediately afterward!" Just before she could use her guitar to wipe out Chip, however, there was a knock at the door. Chip walked over, dancing as he did so. He spun around many times before opening the door, only to bee greeted by and ecstatic Jazz, and a confused Ash.

"OMIGOSHIT'SCHIPSKYLARK!!! AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!" Jazz screamed, throwing her arms around Chip.

"Hi there. I'm going out on a limb here and guessing you and your boyfriend found the lucky backstage pass tickets." Chip said, grinning.

"In this order. She's not my girlfriend, yes, she got those tickets, and why the _hell_ am **I** here?" Ash said, scratching his head.

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm backstage with THE Chip Skylark! This is so unbelievable!" Jazz grinned from ear to ear. Ember watched all of this from the same position she'd been in now for five minutes.

"Hey, isn't that the dipstick's sister?" Ember asked herself. Suddenly, she glanced down and saw Ash under her.

"Wha...?"

"Just so you know, if I can hear your inner monologue, then it ISN'T." Ash sighed.

"It's not a monologue! It's a solioquy! Get it right!" Ember then flipped Ash the bird.

"Yeah...I know. I just don't give a rat's ass."

"Oh? Say, shouldn't we be locked in a fierce battle to the death right about now?" Ember looked down, expecting an answer from Ash, but all he could provide was a shrug.

"Wait...can you ghosts even really die?" Ash asked.

"There are two things that are rumored to be able to send a ghost packing for eternity." Ember said, as the light around her went out, only a small light shone across her face. The screen then suddenly zoomed out, revealing Ash holding Tucker's PDA.

"Hey, where the hell did you get that?" Ember asked.

"I 'borrowed' it from Tucker." Ash smirked.

"Oh. Cool. Now where was I?" Ember looked down in thought for a second. "Oh yeah! These are two items made by a race called the Kamoa that can, in fact, kill a ghost." Ember explained. "These are the Rift Sword and the Rift Bracelet. Both, however, are supposed to have been lost for eternity."

"Yeah, funny thing about being lost. Eventually, someone finds 'em. Hate to tell ya, lady, but both items are no longer in Lost and Found. I have the Rift Sword." Ash said, a bored expression on his face.

"Bullshit."

"No, really." The Rift Sword formed in Ash's hand.

"Wow...you weren't joking. Uh...look! The Box Ghost!" Ember pointed behind Ash, and Ash actually turned around.

"Hey, I see no Box..." he trailed off, giving his own version of the Mental Taser, as he turned to see that Ember had fled.

"_**Damn it!!**_"

* * *

Meanwhile, Danny and Tucker were busy finding their seats. As they entered section D, row 5, Danny happened to spot Wayne and Motoko.

"...What the HELL are they doing here?!" Danny looked absolutely baffled.

"Maybe Motoko's a Chip Skylark fan?" Tucker shrugged.

"Maybe, maybe not. I am, however, completely sure that Wayne's NOT." Danny glared over at Wayne, until Wayne suddenly spoke up loudly.

"What?! Do I have something stuck in my teeth?!"

"Don't play dumb with me, Wayne! I know you're up to something!" Danny snarled.

"Why Danny, I'm shocked...what would I possibly be up to at this concert?" Wayne had a grin on his face that could topple a building, assuming, of course, that grins could topple anything.

"I'm sure whatever it is, it has to do with that stone you're looking for!" Danny pointed his finger at Wayne. The grin on the evil redhead's face disappeared immediately afterward.

"The Spirit Stone has nothing at all to do with why I'm here. You think I'd be sitting here if it was ANYWHERE nearby?!" Wayne then stood up and walked down the steps toward the stage, Motoko following closely behind him.

"Dammit...he'd better not ruin this concert. We paid good money to get in!" Tucker growled.

"Dude, you totally made up those tickets. It _didn't cost us a thing!_" Danny's eyebrows slanted, showing that he was getting frustrated.

* * *

Ember glanced about the amphitheater, as she put the finishing touches on her trap to kill Chip. She was surprised to find, however, that the seats were mostly empty, save for Ash, Jazz, Danny, Tucker, and a surprising fifth person, all by herself in Section C.

"Is that...?! No, it couldn't be..." Ember mused. She noticed the familiar girl and Danny get up at about the same time and head toward the bathrooms.

"Hold my seat, Tuck...I'll be right back." Danny said, getting up and walking down the steps. As he did, another person, from the section next to theirs, walked down toward the bathrooms as well. As they reached the bottom, they bumped into each other. Danny's eyes widened as he saw who he had bumped into.

"SAM?!" Danny nearly shouted.

"Uh..." Sam stammered, grinning cheesily as she glanced around.

"This is not my house..." she muttered. "How did I end up here?"

"That would explain a lot of the empty seats so close to concert time. What the hell are you doing at a Chip Skylark concert anyway?"

"Certainly not enjoying him, that's for sure." Sam said, starting to sweat.

"Sam..." Danny sighed.

"Oh, all right! I love Chip Skylark!" Sam threw her arms up, exasperated. "But I swear, if you tell anyone aside from Tucker, I'll make your life a living hell."

"Sam, please. I'm your friend. I wouldn't do that to you. You should know that by now." Danny smiled.

"Thanks, Danny. You guys wanna hang out with me after we drain our bladders?" Sam asked.

"Sure."

* * *

"So, did I ever tell you I started listening to Chip Skylark when I first learned to..." the rest of what Jazz said was blared out by the announcer's booming voice, but Ash's eyes widened considerably as he listened to her.

"Did NOT need to know that." Ash said, his eyes still wide.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! ARE YOU READY...FOR CHIP SKYLARK?!""

"YEAH!" came Jazz's cheer.

"No." Ash said, unenthusiastically.

"WELL...HERE HE IS! THE ONE, THE ONLY, CHIP SKYLARK!" As the announcer's voice faded, so did the lights. As Chip came out on stage, he suddenly was hoisted into the air by a rope trap. As he rose, Ember materialized on stage.

"Oh god damn it!" came Danny's shout from somewhere in section C, as he transformed into Danny Phantom.

"All right! Ass-kicking time!" Ash shouted gleefully, as he jumped to the stage, his Rift Sword at the ready..

"...Shit. I really should have thought this plan through more." Ember grumbled, as she vanished again.

"Dammit!" Ash said.

"I'm a little confused...she doesn't usually run that fast." Danny shrugged.

"I think it's cause I can actually kill her." Ash mentioned. "She said the Rift Sword can actually kill ghosts."

"Really?" Danny asked, then glanced nervously at Ash's sword.

"What, you think I'm gonna waste you with it when I get pissed at you or something?" Ash was a tad bit defensive.

"Well, no...but it still makes me a bit nervous." Danny said.

"Fine, fine, I'll put it away." Ash's sword then disappeared, and he just happened to notice that Chip was no longer there.

"Hey, Chip's gone." Ash said.

"So are Sam and Jazz." Danny's eyebrows arched.

"I bet they noticed Chip was gone before we did." Ash's eyes narrowed in frustration.

"And they're probably gonna be looking for him." Danny's eyebrows drooped, also showing frustration on his part.

"Which means that you and me are gonna have to save their asses." Ash growled.

"And us too!" came Bloo's voice, as he and Mac popped up beside of Ash and Danny, shocking both of them.

"Wait...how the HELL did you guys get here?!" Ash threw out his arms in frustration.

"Jenny and Yusuke started getting busy playing Halo again, so we slipped right past them." Mac explained.

"I'm smashing that fucking Xbox when we get home." Ash rolled his eyes, as he and Danny ran to the backstage.

* * *

"They can't have gotten far." Sam said, as she and Jazz searched the backstage for any sign of the pretty boy singing sensation.

Sure enough, they found him, a mere few feet back from the curtain. Chip was still hanging upside down, with Ember badmouthing

him from her position, mere inches from his face.

"Not so great being strung up, is it, ya poser bitch?!" Ember grinned evilly.

"I guess not, but hey, at least the view's good." Chip grinned back, without any malice whatsoever.

"What are you talking abo--" Ember started to say, but realized what he meant.

"You're very beautiful." Chip said, smiling ear to ear.

"Hey! I'm trying to get you out of the picture once and for all here!" Ember said, her face reddening. "Don't try to change the subject!"

"I love your hair." Chip said.

"I said don't change the subject, asshole!" Ember shouted, her face beet-red.

"Where the hell have you been all my life?" Chip asked, hearts forming in his eyes.

"Did you not fucking hear me the first two goddamned times?!" Ember's voice was loud enough to wake the dead at this point. "I'm going to fucking kill you!"

"Did you hear that? She's going to kill him!" Jazz exclaimed.

"Don't you think she' have done it by now?" Sam asked, looking a bit confused at what was going on in front of them.

"The time for talk is past us, and our hero is in danger! TO ACTION! EAT FLAMING JACK O'NINE TAILS, YOU ECTOPLASMIC POP

CULTURE WHORE!" Jazz shouted, as she twirled said Jack O'Nine Tails around with her right hand, launching it forward...only for it to bounce off of a light and accidentally wrap Sam in it.

"Great. Tie me up instead of the bad guy. Great plan, Jazz." Sam glared up at the now-sheepishly grinning Jazz.

"You're next, puddin'," Ember grinned wickedly, as she whipped out her guitar and wailed on a note. Less than a second later, many different cords and wires came to life and wrapped around Jazz. Both members of "Team Phantom" then screamed.

Suddenly, Ash and Danny charged through the curtain, Mac and Bloo following right behind them.

"Yep. She got 'em good." Ash sighed in frustration.

"Why did it take us this long to run back here? It was like, five seconds back from where we were standing." Mac asked.

"Cause Dustin doesn't understand basic time concept?" Bloo shrugged.

* * *

Meanwhile, in "Condo Ketchum", Yusuke suddenly dropped his Xbox controller in the middle of a deathmatch between he and Jenny in Halo. Jenny noticed this and said "What's wrong?"

"Fourth wall-breaking senses...tingling..." Yusuke said, his eyebrows slanting in anger.

* * *

"Can you like, _not_ get kidnapped for five seconds so I can kick bad guy ass?!" Ash growled, as he untied Jazz by slicing her ropes, while Danny untied Sam the old-fashioned way. As they did this, they all failed to notice Wayne and Motoko entering from a side door.

"Aw damn it, some blue-haired bitch is hogging the torture." Wayne growled.

"Uh, sir? That's not torture. The two are making out." Motoko's eyebrows were arched, as the camera panned out to show that, as she had said, Chip and Ember had started to make out, and were now up against the wall, Chip no longer being held upside down by the rope trap.

"Oh GOD. Did not need to see that. We're outta here." Wayne grumbled, walking off. Motoko simply shrugged and followed.

"Oh my god...you're such a hottie. I can't take anymore of this. Let's do it right here in front of your teeny-bopper fans!" Ember said, as she began to rip her top off.

"Oh god! My virgin eyes!" Jazz shouted, throwing her now-free hands over her eyes. "I can't watch her do this to Chip!"

"Me neither...and yet..." Sam said, not covering her eyes. "I can't look away."

"Cover your eyes!" Danny shouted, doing that exact motion to Mac and Bloo. Ash just shrugged, pointed his sword forward, and started to say something to Ember and Chip, but just as he opened his mouth, he heard Yusuke bellowing loudly.

"NO FOURTH WALL-BREAKING ON YUSUKE URAMESHI'S WATCH!" Yusuke shouted as he charged into the backstage room, accidentally hitting into Ash, which sent him forward. All eyes stared in shock as Ash uncontrollably careened forward. Chip just barely was able to get out of the detective's way, but Ember wasn't so lucky. Ash's sword pierced her through the chest, with the loudest piercing noise any of them had ever heard. Chip stared on in horror, as Ember smiled weakly.

"I guess...this is...Ember's farewell tour..." she shed a tear, as her body lit up brightly.

"Oh geez. I didn't...I wasn't trying to..." Ash tried to explain, as Ember began to dissolve.

"See ya 'round, Chip dear." Ember said, as she faded into nothingness.

"Ember!" Chip called out, to no avail, for she was gone. He stood there, his head lowered for several minutes, before Ash finally spoke up.

"Oh god...I'm sorry, man." Ash stammered, as he backed out of the backstage area as fast as he could, not letting anyone see his face when he finally did turn around and start running.

* * *

Ash arrived home about three hours later, looking somewhat depressed. Jenny greeted him with a wide grin.

"Hey, you walked out on a totally awesome Chip Skylark concert!" Jenny commented.

"G'huh?!" Ash was dumbstruck.

"Yeah, he came outside right after you ran off and threw the most kickass concert ever! He even sung a brand new song, about you!" Jenny exclaimed.

"No shit?" Ash said, then slowly smiled. "Well, I guess all's well that ends well, huh?"

"Man, that show was BITCHIN'!" Yusuke said, as he, Mac, and Bloo all entered the apartment.

"Yeah, you were a hit!" Mac said to Ash.

"Chip totally rocked out to YOU! And you missed it! Ha ha!" Bloo jeered, before getting hit on the head by Yusuke.

"That was for breaking the fourth-wall, jackass." Yusuke growled.

"Hey, that sucked! Is THIS how we're gonna end this episode?!" Bloo shouted.

"No. THIS is." Ash said, opening the window, which Yusuke drop kicked Bloo out of.

"Happy landings! Stupid asshole." Yusuke muttered.

"All right! I feel a whole lot better now!" Ash grinned from ear to ear.

"Good, then maybe you won't mind me throwing you out with him." Yusuke then proceeded to throw Ash out of the window as well.

"What the...?!" Jenny and Mac spoke up simultaneously.

"Nobody breaks my precious fourth wall. NOBODY." Yusuke grinned evilly, and followed with an evil laugh, as the screen faded to black...

* * *

Author's note:HO-LY SHIT! This took longer than any other episode to write. That's really all I have to say, aside from apologizing to you all if you found the ending to be complete crap. I was just sick of having to write on this episode. Ah well, hopefully the next one will make up for the crap I've written in this episode. Peace out, DR Fans. 


	30. Gender Bender!

Pokewing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 30: Gender Bender!  
A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

Disclaimer. Episodes 1 and 25. ARRGH.

Danny growled, as he tossed and turned, trying to get to sleep. He found himself unable to do this, though, due to a shouting match currently going on between Ash and Jazz. "Oh god damn it..." Danny grumbled, rising out of bed and looking at his clock, its answer royally pissing him off, for it read 3 AM. Angrily, he stormed to his window, opened it, and roared outside at the two bickering teens.  
"IT'S 3 IN THE MORNING! SHUT THE F**K UP SO I CAN GET SOME SLEEP!" he bellowed.  
"Not until she admits she started it!" Ash pointed angrily over at Jazz.  
"I started it?! You started it when you wiped my makeup off earlier today!" Jazz countered.  
Danny growled, then noticed that Yusuke, Jenny, Mac, and Bloo were all awake too.  
"You too?" Danny asked, eyes wide.  
"Us too." Jenny replied, sounding bored.  
"You are the most unbearable person to live with in the entire dimensional universe! Why the hell did the Spirit Stone have to be here?!" Ash shouted.  
"And YOU are the biggest dumbass I've ever met! I mean, really! Who the hell doesn't know how to do multiplication at your age?!"  
"Any chance you guys could, I don't know, save this for tomorrow afternoon? AFTER SCHOOL?!" Danny shouted.  
"I fucking hate you!" Ash shouted.  
"I hate you back!" Jazz responded as angrily as possible.  
"SHUT UP!!!" all of the Spirit Detectives plus Danny suddenly bellowed.

***

*Small bridge at opening*  
Shot of snow falling.

senaka ni mimi wo pitto tsukete dakishimeta

A back shot of Ash walking through the falling snow, then a front shot of the same thing.

kyoukaisen mitai na karada ga jama da ne dokka ichai-sou na no sa

Shot of Mac and Bloo ice skating.

damatte'ru to chigire-sou dakara, konna kimochi

Shot of Misty, with her hair blowing in the wind.

hankei san ME-TORU inai no sekai de motto motto hittsuitetai no sa

Shot of Brock doing laundry.

kawaribanko de PEDARU wo koide

Still shot of Wayne.

ojigi no himawari toorikoshite

Closeup shot of Riku, as his head raises and he looks toward the camera.

gungun kaze wo nomikonde, sou tobe-sou jan

Zooming-in shot of Janine, then a still shot of Plasmius.

hajimete kanjita kimi no taion dare yori mo tsuyoku naritai

Various shots of the ghosts that constantly terrorize Amity Park.

attakai RIZUMU niKO no shinzou ga kuttsuite'ku

Shot of Ember and Desiree, followed by a shot of a shadowy man with wild, long red hair. At the very end of the line, his eyes open as he smirks.

kuchibiru to kuchibiru, me to me to te to te

Shot of Danny smirking as he holds up his left hand in a fist.

kami-sama wa nanimo kinshi nanka shitenai aishite'ru

Shot of Yusuke holding out his finger, as though he's going to do the Spirit Gun.

aishite'ru aishite'ru

Shot of Jenny walking forward, the shot zooming in after every other second.

atashi mada koritenai otona ja wakan'nai kuyashikute setsunakute misetakute PANKU shichau soppo mite matte'ru kara POKKE no mayotte'ru te de

Shot of Jazz staring out over the horizon. She turns around to see her family, and smiles.

hoppe ni furete koishite'ru CHIKARA ni mahou wo kakete taiyou ga zutto shizumanai you ni

Shot of Enma walking across a bridge. He meets up with Ash, and the two walk off-screen as the title "PokeWing Z:Dimension Rifters" appears, along with the subtitle "Amity Park Hijinks". Fade to black.

***

(Title)Gender Bender!  
(Subtitle)Get in touch with your feminine side!  
(Jingle)Electric Guitar (Image)Desiree looms mightly above Ash and Jazz in an ominous purple and black background, laughing wickedly as Ash and Jazz's souls float around her right index finger, looking freaked out.

Special Guest Voice - Desiree - Peri Gilpin

***

As the students of Tetslaff's gym class all rounded the track the last time, the overly-butch teacher noticed that Danny wasn't running along with the rest.  
"Fenton! Pick it up already!" Tetslaff barked out to the tired halfa.  
"Sorry, Mrs. Tetslaff. I'll get...YAWN...right on it..." Danny said, before collapsing onto the ground. Tetslaff then walked over and taped a detention slip to Danny's face.  
"When you wake up, report to my room for detention." she muttered, walking away.

***

Later, in detention, Danny took a seat between Yusuke and Jenny. He looked over at the latter first, then the former.  
"You too?" he asked, looking frustrated.  
"Us too." Jenny and Yusuke responded simultaneously.  
"This is really pissing me off." Danny growled. "Ash and Jazz won't shut up long enough for us to get a good night's sleep."  
"Yeah, it's ridiculous. They just FIND things to nitpick about to each other." Jenny griped. "And WE'RE the ones who're paying for it!"  
"This has gone on long enough!" Yusuke thrust his fist into the air. "It's time to put an END to this! WHO'S WITH ME?!"  
"WE ARE!" Danny and Jenny shouted, their fists joining Yusuke's in midair.  
"Settle down!" Lancer growled, peeking his head in.  
"Sorry." the three muttered.

***

As Ash and Jazz both angrily exited Casper High, they somehow failed to notice the bush sneaking up on them.  
"You asshole! Why did you have to start arguing with me?! Don't you know that I'm ALWAYS right?!" Jazz argued, then going on to say "I even have the shirt to prove it!", before lifting up her shirt to reveal a white t-shirt with a cartoony version of her, grinning devilishly, winking, and giving a thumbs up. Above her, the text "Jazz is ALWAYS right!" could be read by Ash.  
"UGH. I don't see why I'm even bothering talking to you! I gotta find that Kamoa dude." Ash growled, before Danny, Yusuke, and Jenny, poorly disguised, jumped out of the bushes and clamped their collective hands over the mouths of Ash and Jazz, having chloroform-soaked cloths in said hands. Soon, both Ash and Jazz slipped into unconsciousness...

***

As Janine walked down the streets of Amity Park, she felt the presence of Plasmius. She quickly ducked into an alley and said "Took you long enough.", as Plasmius became visible.  
"You try being a visible ghost around Jack Fenton. Anyway, what did you want?" Plasmius lookes mildly preturbed.  
"I've given your offer some thought, and I'm going to accept." Janine smirked. "It's about time Ketchum gets put in his place."  
"Good...good..." Plasmius grinned evilly, as he reverted to human form and put his right hand on Janine's shoulder, and the two walked off together.

***

As Ash slowly came to, he immediately felt a cuff around his left hand. He looked over to see what he was cuffed to, then let out a scream as he saw what, or rather, who he was cuffed to. He was cuffed to Jazz, who was starting to wake up from Ash's scream.  
"Uh...what happened?" Jazz asked. "Your idiot brother and my idiot friends chloroformed us." Ash groaned.  
"I KNOW that, I mean, where are we?" Jazz added irritably.  
"Don't know...why the hell would they do this, anyway?" Ash pondered aloud.  
"It's obviously an attempt to get us to stop fighting so they can sleep more soundly at night." Jazz said, in a bored tone.  
"Yeah, as if that'd ever work." Ash smirked. "In order for us to ever stop fighting, you've have to rip that stick out of your ass!"  
"My brother seems to think you've got a crush on me." Jazz spoke up, with a sly grin.  
"Now see, that's ridiculous. I despise you." Ash growled.  
"Hey! There's something we agree on!" Jazz added, grinning widely. Ash just slapped his head.  
"So, how the hell are we getting out of this one?" Jazz asked.  
"Uh...hello?" Ash looked irritated. "I have a sword I can will into being from within my body." he sighed, as the Rift Sword appeared in his right hand. He promptly used it to slice his handcuff clean off his left hand. He cleanly sliced Jazz's cuff off immediately afterward.  
"Don't just sit there, let's go." Ash griped, as soon as he had cut the cuff from Jazz's right hand.  
"I know that!" Jazz growled."Where do we GO, though?!"  
"How about AWAY FROM HERE? 'That do anything for ya?!" Ash rolled his eyes.  
"Just shut up and help me find a way out of this place!" Jazz looked pissed off, as she glanced around the room they were in. It looked familiar to her, but she couldn't place where it was at first, until she rounded the corner and saw the familiar pole she had been leaned against a couple of weeks back.  
"Oh yeah...we're in the basement of Casper High." Jazz muttered.  
"Isn't that where Danny tied you up?" Ash asked aloud.  
"Yes. That brother of mine is getting what's coming to him, mark my words..." she grinned evilly.

***

It was mid-afternoon at Spirit World's great palace, and chores were currently being done by the French maid outfit-wearing Riku Kurosawa. As he stood, dusting Enma's desk, he couldn't help but notice Ayumu "Osaka" Kasuga walking by.  
"Hey." he said, trying to be as suave as possible.  
"Hey." Ayumu replied, smiling.  
"I'm just about finished for the day. You want to hang out and watch a movie, or something?" Riku offered out his hand, which Ayumu took in hers.  
"I would love to." she said. She stayed and watched Riku finish his last bit of dusting, admiring the fact that the dark-haired nineteen year old had refrained recently from complaining about his outfit. As Riku and Ayumu walked off, Enma and Ratty came in, noticing this.  
"Ah, young love." Enma grinned.  
"Or a fine-ass one night stand, yo. DAYUMN, what a fine piece of ass." Ratty whistled, causing Enma to groan.

***

As soon as Ash and Jazz got out of Casper High, Ash started to run off, before Jazz called out to him, saying "Wait, where the hell are YOU going?"  
"Away from you. I need to think about something important." Ash muttered.  
"You can think?" Jazz acted shocked.  
"Not with you nagging me all the time." Ash turned around, glaring at the redhead.  
"Yeah, well, you want everyone to take you serious? Then start ACTING serious!" Jazz countered.  
"I AM serious! You know what? I wish you could be me for 24 hours, just so you could see how serious I actually am!" Ash's eyes narrowed in disgust.  
"Oh yeah?! Well I wish YOU could be ME for 24 hours to see what it's like to be on the receiving end of your bullcrap!" Jazz countered, before Ash stormed off in a huff. Jazz did the same shortly afterward. Unbeknownst to either of them, a green-skinned ghost woman was listening to them. Her flowing black hair was swaying in the wind as she grinned evilly and said "So you have wished it, so shall it be...heh heh heh..."

***

As Riku and Ayumu exited from Riku's room, the two were laughing. They had just seen "Halloween:Resurrection". "Oh dear lord...that movie was so lame it was funny." Osaka said, between giggles.  
"No kidding. I feel so empty, though. What kinda plot was that?" Riku slapped his forehead. "Way to fuck up a good horror movie franchise, Miramax." he said to no one, but eliciting a laugh from the young Osaka.  
"So, I guess you're probably pretty tired after all that dusting, right?" Osaka looked away, her cheeks slightly red.  
"Yeah, sorry." Riku rubbed the back of his head. "Enma has me so goddamn swamped half the time. It's amazing I haven't collapsed on the job."  
"You realize he's doing that to try to keep your mind off the conflict with Wayne, right?" Nyamo's voice interjected.  
"Oh, hey Mother. What do you mean?" Riku looked t her quizzically.  
"Your punishment's nearly complete. However, Enma said he doesn't want you to fight Wayne. And neither do I." Nyamo said. "Though his reason isn't as selfish as me not wanting to lose you."  
"Mother, I appreciate that you care enough about me to not want to lose me, but I'll be fine fighting Wayne. He's NOTHING." Riku said, his eyes narrowing as he thought of his former partner.  
"Then would you listen to my reason?" Enma interjected, walking up. "Ayumu, Nyamo, would you mind leaving us?"  
"Sure. Riku, see ya." Osaka winked, smiling as she walked off.  
"Can you stop by my room in the morning, Riku? I want to have a mother/son talk with you." Nyamo smiled, reaching up and patting him on the head, before walking off. Just then, Ratty walked by and said "DAYUMN, that Nyamo's fine. What I wouldn't give to tap that ass or have her suckin' it..."  
Riku's eyes were narrow, and indicated a small hint of the anger he was feeling towarrd Ratty at that moment in time. However, before he could speak up, Enma cleared his throat.  
"Before you skin Ratty to make a new hat or whatever, I want to tell you something." Enma said.  
"I'm listening." Riku responded, genuinely interested somewhat in what Enma could possibly have to say to make him back away from this case. After a few minutes, Enma finally spoke up.  
"This whole thing between Ash and Wayne...has gone on for longer than you've been alive." Enma looked up, square into Riku's eyes.  
"Wait, how the HELL is that possible?!" Riku said, obviously not believing Enma.  
"Both of them may be younger than you, but the rivalry between Ash's family and Wayne's family started a generation before them, between their fathers. Ash's father and Wayne's father were both friends at one point long ago, but somewhere down the road of life, their friendship fucked up, as most friendships, unfortunately, tend to do. They became enemies. So in a cosmic sort of sense, Ash was destined to battle with Wayne."  
"You mean the prophecy, right? The five who'll save the universe when its darkest hour approaches, right?" Riku looked deep in thought.  
"No, that is referring to what's controlling Wayne." Enma said. "You mean...him?" Riku said, emphasizing "him".;  
"No, hopefully we never hear from HIM again." Enma looked away. "Whatever HE put inside of Wayne."  
"Ah yes...that thing...I could waste it, Enma. You know that." Riku said. "I don't just want to sit on the sidelines!"  
"I have a feeling you'll be needed, but if you interfere before you're supposed to, you may screw up our only chance of winning this war." Enma explained. "Ash MUST find the last Kamoa before anyone else moves in to interfere."  
"So where is this last Kamoa?" Riku asked. "How the hell are they supposed to know it's him or her?"  
"He's in Amity Park." Enma said. "So, wait...are you talking about Danny?" Riku wondered.  
"No. Danny's just a human who got ectoplasm fused with his DNA. Just trust me, Ash will find the last Kamoa extremely soon." Enma smirked. Suddenly, Riku's eyes went wide, as he came to a realization. "Oh my freaking god...that's why his hand hasn't burned off from holding onto the Rift Sword...the last Kamoa is Ash!"  
Enma said nothing at first, but merely turned around. After a few seconds, he spoke up.  
"Guess we'll see, won't we?" he said, his eyes closing as he continued to smirk.

***

As Ash woke up the next morning, he staggered into the bathroom. He passed by Mac and Bloo, who both greeted him by saying "Hey Jazz."  
"Wha...? What the hell is she doing here this early?!" Ash moaned out, not noticing Mac and Bloo's freaked out expressions as he finished staggering into the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror, seeing nobody but Jazz in it. "HEY! GET THE HELL OUTTA THE BATHROOM! I GOTTA P--" he cut off, realizing that as he spoke, Jazz's lips were moving. Shakily, he reached up and touched his face, seeing Jazz doing the same thing. He let out a few shaky sounds, realizing the horrible truth of what was going on, before dropping to his knees and belting out a mighty "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

***

Meanwhile, over at Fentonworks, Danny, Jack, and Maddie were awakened by the same scream Ash had done mere seconds before. Danny rushed over to the bathroom and phased through the door to find.  
"Ash?! What the hell is going on here?!" Danny shouted.  
"I can't be in his body!" 'Ash' retaliated. "I have a high standard to maintain!"  
"...JAZZ?!" Danny said, in disbelief. "What the HELL?!"  
After a few minutes, Jazz calmed down and said "Ash and I got into a fight after we got out of your stupid little plan to get us to stop. We wished we could be each other for a day to prove which one of us has it worse. Unless I'm having a nightmare, it came true."  
"If you ARE having a nightmare, it's pretty damn screwed up." Danny's eyebrow arched. "But no, I think I know what happened. Desiree must be out again. And if I know her as well as I should, there's a huge side effect to her granting that wish. I'm gonna cut class today and find out what it is."  
"The sooner we can change this, the better!" Jazz exclaimed.  
"No kidding." Danny agreed. "In the meantime, try to act like Ash as much as possible. I'm going over to his place and telling him to act like you."  
"Oh hell...this is gonna suck, I just know it." Jazz said, as soon as Danny had phased through.

***

"So, let me get this straight...you're actually Ash in Jazz's body?" Yusuke asked.  
"This is undeniable proof that God fucking hates me." Ash muttered.  
"At least it ain't me and Jenny." Yusuke smirked.  
"Yeah...hey, what's THAT supposed to mean?!" Jenny shouted in realization.  
"Hey, look at the bright side..." Bloo interjected. "You can get turned on simply by looking at yourself naked."  
"...I never thought about it like that." Ash said, a creepy grin emerging on his face. "It's payback time, Miss Fenton!"  
"Don't go giving him ideas like that, Bloo!" Mac protested.  
"He's kind of a bad influence." Jimmy muttered, as he slid into a chair at the breakfast table.  
"No kidding." Timmy added, taking a seat next to Jimmy. "Yesterday he put all of my toothpaste on his head and styled it into an Elvis look!"  
"Hey, don't mock the King!" Bloo protested.  
"I'm not mocking the King, I'm calling you a jackass for wasting my damn toothpaste!" Timmy shouted. At that moment, Danny phased through the door. "Hey guys, have you seen--" he cut himself off as he noticed Ash sitting at the table. "Never mind."  
"Yeah. Any idea on what caused this?" Yusuke asked.  
"Yeah, a pretty good one. There's a ghost I've known for a while now, who usually causes havoc here by granting people's wishes with extremely unwanted side effects. Her name's Desiree, and she's nothing but trouble." Danny explained.  
"Like most girls?" Yusuke grinned slyly, before getting kicked in the kneecap by Jenny.  
"Asshole." Jenny muttered.  
"I said MOST girls, not all of them!" Yusuke argued.  
"Yeah, well most guys are pigs!" Jenny shouted, slapping a pig snout onto Yusuke's face.  
"Could you guys stop bickering like ninnies?!" Ash griped, eliciting glares from Jenny, Yusuke, Mac, Bloo, and Danny. "What?" he asked.  
"There's a prime example of the pot calling the kettle black." Jenny said, frowning.  
"Yeah, weren't you out all night every night this week arguing with Jazz?" Mac said angrily.  
"I wasn't arguing with her! She was arguing with me!" Ash protested.  
"Were you fighting back?" Danny asked bluntly.  
"Well, yeah. Can't let her go around acting like she knows every damn thing!" Ash said.  
"Then you were arguing with her." Danny frowned. "And quite frankly, we're ALL sick of it. The two of you have been keeping us up all week, trying to prove who's right and who's wrong, and WE'VE been getting in trouble for it!"  
"None of us can fucking sleep, Ash! For the love of God, give the fighting a rest!" Yusuke griped.  
"Not until I prove to her that I've been right all along!" Ash shouted.  
"About?"  
"Eh?"  
"What were you right about, allegedly?"  
"Uh..."  
"You don't even REMEMBER?!"  
"Not exactly, no."  
"Then here's an idea! SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Jenny shouted, with everyone freezing immediately afterward, gasping in shock seconds after that.  
"I've NEVER heard Jenny say that word!" Danny exclaimed.  
"Ash is one hell of a bad influence." Yusuke said, his eyes wide.  
"You're not helping me much either, you know..." Jenny muttered.  
"Yeah, but I never said I was any better." Yusuke grinned evilly.  
"Badly influenced or not, Jenny's right. This shit is ridiculous, Ash! Either you stop fighting with Jazz, or..." Danny trailed off.  
"Or WHAT?" Ash asked, his eyes narrowing angrily.  
"Or you can find the Spirit Stone your damn self!" Danny angrily countered.  
"Fine! Jenny, Yusuke, and the goofballs here will help me!" Ash protested.  
"Uh, no. You're an asshole, Ash. You obviously don't give a shit about how we feel, or you'd have stopped your pointless arguing with Jazz." Mac explained.  
"Is it a bit disturbing that Mac just said 'shit'?" Bloo asked.  
"About as disturbing as a creepy little blue blob saying it." Timmy said, a bored tone in his voice.  
"Can we just get back to the point?! You don't care, and we're sick of it! We QUIT!" Jenny shouted.  
"You know what?! FINE! Quit for all I give a fuck!" Ash shouted as he stormed out of the apartment. "Goddamn son of a..." he trailed off as he exited the apartment and saw Jazz in his body, standing across the street.  
"Wait the hell up." Ash said angrily as he ran over to Jazz.  
"Bad day so far?" she said, dishing out the Mental Taser to everything within the vicinty.  
"Yep. You too?"  
"Me too."  
"We gotta reverse this."  
"Danny says it could be the interference of a ghost named Desiree."  
"Yeah, that's what he told me...before he and my so-called jackass friends quit." Ash said.  
"Quit?"  
"They're not gonna help me find the Spirit Stone anymore."  
"Oh. That sucks. Did they say why?"  
"Yeah. They're sick of us fighting. But what the hell are we supposed to do, just not do it?"  
"Well, maybe if you'd actually admit I was right."  
"Even if I knew what about, it'd be a cold day in hell before I DID admit you were right."  
"You don't remember? You were utterly convinced you couldn't get a college education."  
"Holy SHIT, THAT'S what I was fighting with you about?!"  
"That's what you've been fighting with me about. You're NOT a total waste of time when it comes to schoolwork."  
"Maybe you're right, but...I've never really thought about it. I only want to do two things right now. I want to save our dimensions and I want to go home..." Ash's voice trailed off, sounding sad.  
"You must really miss everyone back in your dimension."  
"Yeah. Mom, Brock, and most of all, Misty..."  
"Anyone who can put up with you has got to be great." Jazz joked.  
"What the fuck do you know about me?" Ash countered angrily.  
"I was kidding..."  
"No. Seriously, what the fuck do you know about me? Am I really that much of an asshole?"  
"You CAN be, yes." Jazz said, starting to get annoyed.  
"Oh really?! Well, you're a royal BITCH!" Ash shouted in response, flipping Jazz the bird.  
"Ugh! This is what I can't stand about you! You always think I'm just trying to pick you apart! I can't believe you're the same guy I saw in my--" Jazz cut herself off suddenly, pursing her lips together.  
"In your what?" Ash looked perplexed.  
"Never mind. Let's just get to school." Jazz shook her head in disgust, then checked Ash's wrist communicator for the time. "HOLY FREAKING GOD, WE'RE THIRTY MINUTES LATE!"

***

"You really took a beating out there." came the voice of the blonde teenager that was currently providing Misty with shelter.  
"I have to get stronger. I have to help Ash, Winry." Misty said, her speech dragging a bit due to the pain she was currrently feeling mixed with her exhaustion. Winry smiled and said "Ash, huh? That your boyfriend's name?"  
"Yeah. He's off facing God knows what out there. At first I thought it was bad enough when Wayne was plaguing us back in our dimension, but to think he's out there trying to find something to make himself powerful enough to wipe out every last human..." Misty grimaced.  
"Is there really something out there strong enough to do that?" Winry's eyes were wide.  
"I have a very small understanding of the situation, but from what I know, Ash said Wayne's got something controlling him in order to get its hands on something called the Spirit Stone."  
"By itself..." came a voice all too familiar to Misty. "It won't harm anybody."  
"Enma?!" Misty turned around, and sure enough, there stood Enma.  
"It wasn't created for destructive purposes. It was made to act as a catalyst for one of the five elementals that flow to and from the different dimensions, keeping them alive." Enma explained.  
"Then why is it just lying within human reach?!" Misty shouted.  
"It's not. It's in a place called the Ghost Zone. Normal humans can't just go to and fro. Or at least, they haven't been able to for the past sixty years. A few college dumbasses changed that, though. Jack and Madeline Fenton, and their old college chum Vlad Masters, created a prototype Ghost Portal to travel to and from the Ghost Zone." Enma stated, a bit of a frown on his face. "That's in Amity Park, right?" Misty questioned. Winry just looked on, puzzled.  
"How the hell did he get in here?" Winry said, her eyes beady.  
"Yes. Ash is there right now, but I have a question for you...what the HELL are you doing here?!"  
"Uh, well...I want to help Ash. I can only do that if I learn how to fight." Misty explained.  
"Let Ash handle this. He's already there at the battleground. Barring that he hasn't done something stupid, such as get into a major fight with that one girl..." Enma trailed off, noticing the look on Misty's face.  
"He's with...another...GIRL?!" Misty shouted.  
"Not like that! He can't stand her!" Enma rationalized.  
"...Oh."

***

Ash and Jazz drove up to the parking lot of Casper High, with Jazz at the wheel despite being in Ash's body.  
"Hey, couldn't we get busted if the cops saw you driving?" Ash remarked.  
"You may be 'legal', but I'll be damned before I'll EVER let you behind the wheel of my baby!" Jazz quipped.  
"Bitch. So how are we gonna handle classes while we're in each other's bodies?"  
"We'll just have to go to each other's classes."  
"Goody." Ash smirked.  
"Goody...? Why are you smirking like that?" Jazz looked perplexed.  
"Cause PE is first. And today...it's Dodgeball day!" Ash laughed maniacally.  
"Oh shit." Jazz muttered. "I HATE dodgeball..."  
"This is even better than I hoped! Ha ha h--OW!" Ash moaned, clutching his stomach.  
"What is it this time?" Jazz asked, rolling her eyes.  
"Stomach cramp. Big one." Ash winced.  
"Oh right. That would be the start of my period. Have fun with it." Jazz smirked, walking off.  
"Oh LOVELY." Ash moaned, practically crawling into school. Unbeknownst to he and Jazz, though, a certain redhead was listening to their conversation from the second floor.  
"So, the dumbass is in the smartass's body, huh? This will do WONDERS for my plans..." Wayne grinned wickedly, before laughing evilly.  
"Mister Williams! NO evil laughing in the hallways!" shouted Lancer. "Now get to class!" Wayne's only response was to wordlessly shrug and walk off.

***

Gym was underway, and as Jazz walked in, she heard Tucker shout "Heads up, Ash!", right before a dodgeball nailed her in her new body's testicles. She let out a moan and dropped to the floor.  
"Oh god....why?" she let out a bit of a sob. "Why is there only pain?!"  
"You're out, Ketchum! Now go put those balls of yours on ice!" Tetslaff barked, pointing over to a conveniently located cooler. Jazz just moaned in response.  
"Time out! Baxter! Help Ketchum over to the cooler!" Tetslaff ordered.  
"Yes ..." Dash said, grabbing Jazz under the arms and dragging her over to the cooler, then shoving her into the cooler so hard, her head actually smashed through the plastic.  
"Wow. They don't make these things like they used to." Dash said, laughing at Jazz as he walked off.  
"Oh hell...is this what that jackass has to put up with?" Jazz muttered, in realization.  
"Yeah, pretty much." Enma said. "Ash is always getting his ass kicked by that idiot Dash."  
"Wait...you KNOW we switched bodies?" Jazz asked.  
"Your friends filled me in. Unfortunately, if you don't switch back in the next 48 hours, you'll stay in those bodies forever. And you have no idea how Ash's powers work."  
"And I don't like gettting dodgeballed in the balls." Jazz added bluntly.  
"I can imagine so. I've been hit in the sack a few times myself. Not pretty."

***

An hour later, Ash was slumped over in the bathroom, cluthcing his new feminine stomach.  
"Geez, no wonder Misty was such a bitch when I first met her." Ash moaned. "How do girls stand this shit?"  
"They usually wear pads." came Jazz's voice as she snuck into the girls bathroom.  
"Come to make fun of me, huh?" Ash said, wincing. "Go on. I deserve it. I've been a royal asshole."  
"Actually...I wanted to apologize. I've been way too hard on you, Ash. You put up with a lot of shit I had no idea you were even dealing with. Dash is an asshole." Jazz said.  
"Yeah, he is."  
"Why don't you beat him up?"  
"Because I've sworn to use my powers for good. That'd be for revenge, and as much as I want to take revenge on my enemy, that's not why I'm doing this. The people I love are in constant danger." Ash said, looking down. "I can't rest until HE'S beaten."  
"So, who is this enemy of yours, anyway?"  
"That's top secret. I can't tell you, cause he'll put you in danger. As much as we fight, I don't REALLY hate you." Ash admitted.  
"And I don't really hate you." Jazz replied, smiling. "Also, I have a confession to make...I've seen you in my dreams before as well, before we met." Ash looked dumbstruck.  
"So it's like we were fated to meet..." he said, softly.  
"Yep. And I don't normally believe in fate, so that's saying something." Jazz stuck her tongue out. "Friends?" she offered her hand out.  
"Friends." Ash smirked, taking Jazz's hand and shaking it.  
"Now that that's settled..." Enma's voice rang out from Ash's communicator. "I need to tell you something, Ash. We have the file on the ghost who more than likely did this. Her name is Desiree. We also know how you can get back into your bodies."  
"Seriously? How?!" Ash nearly shouted.  
"You have to find her and wish yourselves back into your bodies. But be careful how you word your wish. Her wish-granting ALWAYS comes with a price. And said price isn't a good thing, usually."  
"Danny told me a bit about Desiree." Jazz spoke up, then after a minute, went on to say "I've got the wish figured up in my mind. Now all we need to do is find Desiree."  
Ash nodded, and the two left the bathroom, with both Paulina and Star looking at them weirdly from the hall.  
"What's that brainiac doing with that loser?" Paulina asked. Star just shrugged.

***

Meanwhile, Desiree was off causing mischief all over the town, granting wishes to everyone who was unfortunate enough to actually speak any wishes they had out loud.  
"That's it, fools! Keep your wishes coming! I'm going to be all-powerful by tonight at this rate!" Desiree nearly howled with laughter, but was interrupted by another laugh. "W...what the...?! Who's there?!"  
"Just two high school kids who want their bodies back!" Ash's voice rang out, as he and Jazz rose from the shadows of a building looming over Desiree.  
"You kids again..." Desiree grinned. "What makes you think you can get your bodies back?"  
"We can if we wish for it." Jazz returned Desiree's grin, but before she could speak up with her wish, Desiree produced a set of earplugs, which magically floated into her ears.  
"Sorry, I can't hear you!" Desiree cackled. "And now that that's taken care of...DESTROY THEM!" she commanded, as seven green skeletons rose from the ground and creeped toward Ash and Jazz(Who had then jumped from the top of the building, with the latter holding on to the former as they fell)  
"Oh shit..."Ash said. "Come on, bring out the Rift Sword and destroy 'em!"  
"I don't know how!" Jazz replied, fear in her voice.  
"Then do the Spirit Gun!"  
"I'll try..." Jazz extended her right index finger and shouted "Spirit Gun!!", causing a small bullet of energy to fly into one of the skeletons, disarming it.  
"Shit! You don't know how to control the energy in your attacks either!" Ash slapped his hand to his face.  
"Sorry...looks like we're boned." Jazz said, eliciting a small chuckle from Ash.  
"Heh, you said 'boned'." Ash laughed.  
"Ash, focus! These skeletons are about to rip us limb from limb!" Jazz said, shutting her eyes as she awaited their horrible fate.  
"Actually, they're being turned to dust." Ash stated bluntly. Sure enough, as Jazz opened her eyes, she saw then being blasted by Danny and Yusuke.  
"Danny! Yusuke!" Jazz exclaimed.  
"I thought you freaking hated our guts." Ash said.  
"Blood's thicker than water." Danny smirked.  
"And even though you're an asshole, Ash, you can be cool at times." Yusuke quipped.  
"What d'ya mean 'at times'?" Ash's eyes were narrowed comically.  
"The two of you aren't enough to take me on!" Desiree shouted.  
"They know. That's why I'm here." Jenny said, and Desiree turned around to face her.  
"You little...!"  
"You heard me, right? I'll give you a second to think about that." Jenny smirked. Desiree gasped as she realized that Jenny was holding her earplugs in her hands.  
"No!" Desiree shouted. Without a second of delay, Jazz voiced her wish.  
"I wish Ash and I were back in our own bodies, and that you can't do anything to screw us over!"  
"I...must...obey!" Desiree said begrudgingly, and with a wave of her hand, the two gender-swapped teens began the transfer back into their bodies immediately. As Ash's soul floated towards his body, however, he saw himself within his mind, with his Rift Sword at his side, and with blue energy swirling at his feet.  
'Did I just learn a new power?!' Ash thought to himself as his soul settled into his body.  
"Did it work?" Danny asked.  
"It did!" Jazz cheered.  
"Damn you!" Desiree shouted. "I'll kill you all!"  
"No. You won't. Time to test out that vision in my head!" Ash said, as his Rift Sword formed in his right hand. He then brought it to his side, as blue energy started to swirl at his feet. Suddenly, the energy started spiraling up into the Rift Sword. After about ten seconds of this, Ash brought his sword in front of him, when all the energy had finished gathering into it. With a grin, he shouted "HERE WE GO!" as the blade became engulfed in blue fire. He jumped into the air and shouted "SPIRIT SLASH!!", letting the blue flaming energy blade fly from his sword. It passed through Desiree, doing no visible harm at first. He glared down Desiree, who returned his glare for a second, before letting out a scream as the Spirit Slash's damage suddenly became visible. Vertically, Desiree began to tear apart, as as she finished doing so, she exploded into an ectoplasmic mess, covering the detectives, as well as Danny and Jazz, with green ectoplasmic goop.  
"Ew." Jazz moaned.  
"Victory!" Ash exclaimed, twirling his sword around for five seconds before holding it high above his head. "That was fucking AWESOME!"  
"Yeah, it was pretty cool I guess." Yusuke and Danny murmured.  
"I'm all for kicking ass and taking names, but we all really need a shower, don't you think?" Jenny commented.  
"Agreed." the detectives, Danny, and Jazz all said unanimously, running off and leaving the area in a complete mess.

***

At the end of the day, all five of the friends sat in detention.  
"This may be the very first detention I've ever had." Jazz commented. "But it was worth it."  
"Good thing you guys stopped fighting." Jenny said.  
"Yeah, which means I won't need this anymore." Ash said, pulling out a stink bomb.  
"You were actually going to nail me with that?!" Jazz looked shocked.  
"No, but I was gonna set it in your room and let it go off by itself." Ash chuckled.  
"Ah well, at least you're friends now." Yusuke said.  
"Yep, so guess I'll not be needing it, like I said." Ash commented, throwing it behind him. It hit the wall and burst open, releasing a noxious odor.  
"OH GOOD HELL!" came the cries of the five friends.

***

Meanwhile, a rift appeared in Mushiyori City, and out of that rift stepped a now-blue-and-white Vexus.  
"He's been here..." Vexus said. "I can feel it. I'm coming for you, Wayne! And nothing will save you from my wrath!" After finishing her declaration, she vanished into the rift, leaving the people below where it had occured to wonder is they had been hallucinating or not. Along with Vexus's new body had come increased power, the power to travel to other dimensions, and now she was determined to find Wayne and take her ultimate revenge...

Author's note:Hoo boy, another long chapter. I'm proud of this one though. I put a lot of time and effort into it, and the good news is, once I finish the next one, Caleb, Rob, and I will be done all the way up to episode 34 , I've had 32 and 33 done for quite a while now. We also have a few other future episodes completed as well. Which ones, you ask? Well, that's our little secret, now isn't it? ;) Peace.


	31. Meet the Samsons

Pokewing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 31:Meet the Samsons

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

Disclaimer is in Episodes One and in Episodes Twenty-Five, fo-shizzle!

Ash and friends sat outside of Condo Ketchum, laughing and joking around. It was a beautiful Saturday morning.  
"Man, it's a beautiful Saturday morning. Where have I heard that before?" Bloo asked.  
"We need something to do..." Danny said, a bored tone in his voice.  
"Hey, look guys!" Timmy shouted, running up to the gang. "There's a really high-tech van driving this way!"  
"...OH SHIT." Danny closed his eyes in annoyance. "I forgot they were coming."  
"Forgot who was coming?" Jenny asked.  
"Mom and Dad's old college rivals...the Samsons. Their son is such a freaking prick to me."  
"Then maybe we can give him a little payback, eh?" Ash grinned mischievously.  
"Besides..." Yusuke grinned as well. "You've got ghost powers now."  
"True." The mischievous grin spread to Danny as well. "I get to bully HIM now!"  
Just then, the high-tech van crashed through the fence next to Fentonworks. As it came to a stop, four people stepped out: a tall, heavy man with wavy red hair, a taller woman, with long black hair (About the same length as Jazz's hair was.), a teenage boy, who had short red hair(Which was kept in a small ponytail.), and a teenage girl with short black hair(With very long bangs.). The man spoke up after a second.  
"This must be the place! Let's go rub our proof in Jack's face!"  
"Of course, dear." the woman responded. "Jamie, Maggie, why don't you go find Danny and hang out with him?"  
"Yes Mom." the girl, Maggie, obeyed.  
"Whatever." came the cold response of Jamie, the boy.  
"Just think, Wendy! We're this close to proving that goblins exist!" the man giddily exclaimed.  
"That's great, Matt, but try not to get overly excited. You know what happened last time..." Wendy said.  
"I have no clue what you're referring to, but okay!" Matt said, a clueless look on his face as he and Wendy headed for the back door.

*Small bridge at opening*  
Shot of snow falling.

senaka ni mimi wo pitto tsukete dakishimeta

A back shot of Ash walking through the falling snow, then a front shot of the same thing.

kyoukaisen mitai na karada ga jama da ne dokka ichai-sou na no sa

Shot of Mac and Bloo ice skating.

damatte'ru to chigire-sou dakara, konna kimochi

Shot of Misty, with her hair blowing in the wind.

hankei san ME-TORU inai no sekai de motto motto hittsuitetai no sa

Shot of Brock doing laundry.

kawaribanko de PEDARU wo koide

Still shot of Wayne.

ojigi no himawari toorikoshite

Closeup shot of Riku, as his head raises and he looks toward the camera.

gungun kaze wo nomikonde, sou tobe-sou jan

Zooming-in shot of Janine, then a still shot of Plasmius.

hajimete kanjita kimi no taion dare yori mo tsuyoku naritai

Various shots of the ghosts that constantly terrorize Amity Park.

attakai RIZUMU niKO no shinzou ga kuttsuite'ku

Shot of Ember and Desiree, followed by a shot of a teenager with red hair in a ponytail. At the end of the verse, his eyes open halfway and he smirks.

kuchibiru to kuchibiru, me to me to te to te

Shot of Danny smirking as he holds up his left hand in a fist.

kami-sama wa nanimo kinshi nanka shitenai aishite'ru

Shot of Yusuke holding out his finger, as though he's going to do the Spirit Gun.

aishite'ru aishite'ru

Shot of Jenny walking forward, the shot zooming in after every other second.

atashi mada koritenai otona ja wakan'nai kuyashikute setsunakute misetakute PANKU shichau soppo mite matte'ru kara POKKE no mayotte'ru te de

Shot of Jazz staring out over the horizon. She turns around to see her family, and smiles.

hoppe ni furete koishite'ru CHIKARA ni mahou wo kakete taiyou ga zutto shizumanai you ni

Shot of Enma walking across a bridge. He meets up with Ash, and the two walk off-screen as the title "PokeWing Z:Dimension Rifters" appears, along with the subtitle "Amity Park Hijinks". Fade to black.

(Title)Meet the Samsons!  
(Subtitle)The goblin-hunting family from hell!  
(Jingle)Techno Synthesizer (Image)Ash is surrounded by the four members of the Samson family, who are cloaked by shadows and grinning evilly. Behind them, a shadowy ogre-like being stands tall, also cloaked in shadow and grinning evilly.

Ash and friends watched as Jamie and Maggie walked across the street. As they reached the six friends, Jamie just leaned back against the apartments and sighed.  
"Hello, Jamie." Danny said, malice evident in his voice.  
"Fenton." Jamie responded coldly.  
"Would you guys stop with the testosterone? This happens every time we come to visit!" Maggie griped.  
"Not 'till he apologizes for bullying me all those times!" Danny protested.  
"Nope." Jamie grinned.  
"Come on, Jamie! Try to make a fresh start with Danny!" Maggie growled.  
"Nope."  
"Wow, he's a real charmer." Yusuke muttered.  
"I could refuel myself with this guy, if I ran on ice." Jenny said, her eyes narrowed angrily. At that moment, Jazz walked up to the eight.  
"Hey guys, what's going on?"  
"The Ice King's back." Danny grumbled. Suddenly, Jamie cleared his throat, stood up straight, and walked over to Jazz.  
"How ya doing, Jazz? It's been a while. You look really pretty."  
"That's the most I've heard him say all day." Maggie said, her eyes wide. Jazz just blushed, as she started into Jamie's emerald eyes.  
"Would ya like to get something to eat?" Jamie asked, grinning. Jazz returned his grin, and said "Sure."  
Jamie took Jazz's hand in his, and the two walked off toward the Nasty Burger.  
"What the fuck, man?" Ash looked somewhat disturbed.  
"Hit a nerve, huh?" Yusuke grinned slyly. Ash's only response was to flip Yusuke off.  
"That Jamie really pisses me off." Danny said.  
"Oh yeah?" Maggie challenged. "Try LIVING with him."  
"No thanks." Danny grumbled, right before his ghost sense went off.  
"What was THAT?" Maggie looked weirded out.  
"Oh shit..." Danny said. "It's uh...REALLY cold, isn't it?"  
"It's 78 degrees!" Jenny argued.  
"NOT HELPING!" Danny shouted. Without warning, Technus flew overhead, laughing manically.  
"Oh shit." Danny repeated. "Hey Ash, gotta use your bathroom!" he suddenly exclaimed, and before Ash could respond, he ran into the main door of the apartment. Maggie could swear she heard him shout "Going ghost! Seconds later, local legend Danny Phantom came flying through the walls of the apartment. Looking around, Ash sheepishly grinned and said "Where'd he come from?"  
"Am I the only one who realizes that's Danny?" Maggie asked, not at all surprised.  
"Uh..." the gang sweat dropped.  
"It's not like he's even really HIDING it. Danny Fenton? Danny PHANTOM? Note the resemblance?"  
"Yeah. We know he's Danny. We've been helping him with his ghost problem while he's been helping us with OUR problem." Ash explained. "You see, we come from..."  
"Other dimensions?" Maggie asked, a bored look on her face.  
"How did you...?" Jenny was dumbstruck.  
"Please, the only normal-looking people among you are the kid with the flame-pattern jacket and the guy wearing the red jacket. You're a robot, right?" Maggie smirked over at Jenny.  
"Uh...yep. I'm a robot." Jenny was a bit bewildered, but answered regardless.  
"And the blob thing...I don't know WHAT he's supposed to be."  
"I'm an imaginary friend, thank you VERY MUCH." Bloo said, his eyes narrowed in anger.  
"Can't blame her for not knowing. I didn't know what the fuck you were either." Yusuke muttered.

Meanwhile, Jazz and Jamie were sitting at the Nasty Burger.  
"This is nice, actually being here without my brother or our friends." Jazz happily sipped a vanilla milkshake, as Jamie stared at her from across the table.  
"I bet that kid that Danny hangs out with never tells you how stunning you look." Jamie smirked.  
"Well, what does it matter, anyway? He's just my friend..." Jazz blushed.  
"I dunno. He looked pretty pissed off when we were walking away." Jamie grinned, and Jazz could swear that, for just a second, it was an evil grin.  
"Anyway, I'm here with you, aren't I?" Jazz reasoned.  
"True. So, what have you been up to for the last two years?"  
"Ah, well...just trying to get myself prepared for college."  
"What field?"  
"Psychology."  
"Trying to get into people's heads, eh Jazz?"  
"Mind if I get into yours for a second?"  
"Not at all."  
"What have YOU been up to?"  
"Oh, you know, the usual. Robbing banks, malls, and the like." The two laughed a few seconds afterward. "Seriously though, not much. Just, you know, relaxing until college starts."

"I wonder when Danny's gonna get back?" Ash asked, still sitting in the exact same spot he had been sitting in before. As if to answer his question, Danny landed in front of them, panting.  
"Don't worry, citizens. I've captured Technus." Danny said, putting on an act in front of Maggie.  
"Uh, she knows it's you." Ash said, bored.  
"Really? How?"  
"Same height, same weight, same hairstyle...the fact that I heard you say 'Going ghost!'. Hell, you even SOUND the same! How the hell do your parents not know that you're Phantom?"  
"They're idiots." Yusuke muttered. "Hey!" Danny protested.  
"You try sleeping at your kitchen table and having Jack poke you with a stick." came Yusuke's bitter response. "I hope I made him barf when I nailed him in the stomach." Suddenly, Jamie and Jazz walked up toward the gang, just as Danny reverted into his human form.  
"Told ya he was Phantom." Jamie grinned over to Maggie.  
"I already knew, jackass." Maggie rolled her eyes.

"So...MATT..." Jack spoke slowly, scorn in his voice. "What did you want to show us?"  
"Irrefutable proof of the existence of GOBLINS!" Matt grinned deviously, as he held up some photos of a large green ogre-ish creature, dressed in ripped black jeans and a denim jacket, much the same clothes as Jamie was currently wearing.  
"That's uh...wow..." Jack was actually buying into it.  
"That's more of an ogre than a goblin." Maddie interjected.  
"What?" Wendy was shocked.  
"Yeah, goblins have less muscle." Maddie pointed out. "This thing could probably destroy a building if it got mad."  
"I guess I see her point..." Matt sounded dejected.  
"But hey, we really found out that ghosts exist!" Jack beamed. "HA HA! WE'RE BETTER THAN YOU!"  
"Show us." Wendy challenged.  
"Well, uh...we don't have any here WITH us." Jack confessed.  
"Then as far as I'm convinced, they still don't exist." Matt grinned.  
"But what about that teenage ghost we heard about in the news?" Wendy asked.  
"Still don't exist!" Matt continued to grin, looking oblivious. Maddie had a little mischievous grin of her own as she walked over to the television and turned it on.  
"Ghost attacks! How can one be safe walking to and from their houses here in Amity Park with ghost attacks on the rise? It seems even the efforts of local ghost-hunting family the Fentons, and the town's ghostly protector, Danny Phantom, can't stop the ever-increasing amount of ghosts lately. Wait, this just in! We go now live to Lance Thunder. Lance, what's going on?"  
Suddenly, the face of everybody's favorite on-the-scene reporter, Lance Thunder, was displayed on the TV. "Well Tiffany, it's utter chaos in downtown Amity Park! Ghosts are on a rampage! This sudden show of spectral force has me wondering where our Phantom is! And now I'm off, before the ghosts rip me to shreds!" Suddenly, a metallic ghost with flaming green hair descended and knocked the camera down. Lance's voice could then be heard screaming "THEY DON'T PAY ME ENOUGH FOR THIS!" and sobbing like a little girl as he assumedly ran off.  
"GHOSTS! MADDIE, REV UP THE RV!" Jack bellowed, as he charged over to a door marked "Fenton Weapons Vault" and grabbed as many weapons as he could hold at one time.  
"Come on, you two! We're goin' ghost huntin'!" Jack had an ecstatic look on his face. Wendy just shrugged and grabbed Matt, who was still repeating "Still don't exist!" with a big, oblivious grin on his face.

Meanwhile, Team Ketchum continued to sit by their "home base", as Jamie and Danny seemed to be in the middle of some sort of weird staring contest.  
"How long have you known I was Phantom?" Danny asked, obviously pissed off.  
"Since about the second time I saw you in the news. You suck at concealing it, really." Jamie responded with a grin.  
"Well, you suck at people skills! OOH, BURN!" Danny laughed maniacally.  
"Whatever. People suck." Jamie said. "I see no reason to be sociable, since they're idiots." Jazz then looked over at Ash, who had a seriously angry look on his face as he eyed Jamie. "Something wrong, Ash?" she asked.  
"We need to talk." Ash said, not averting his gaze from Jamie. He arched his eyebrows as he said the next word. "Alone."  
Jazz simply nodded and followed Ash as he got up and trekked upstairs to his apartment. When they got inside, Ash turned around and stared at Jazz as he said "I'm sorry, but I can't trust that kid Jamie."  
"What do you mean?" Jazz asked.  
"I mean he's hiding something big. I sensed Demon energy on him, Jazz." Ash's eyes had narrowed to near-slits.  
"You've got to be kidding me. I've known Jamie for years. He'd never hurt a fly." Jazz protested, an angry look on her face.  
"Maybe the Jamie you knew is no more. Ever think of that?" Ash said, looking at the wall.  
"Did you ever think that who I want to hang out with is none of your damn business?" Jazz looked enraged.  
"Whoa, what are you getting onto me for? I'm trying to tell you, he's dangerous!" Ash protested.  
"No he's not! You're just jealous!"  
"Are you even USING that brain of yours right now?" Ash asked, rolling his eyes. "This guy is definitely no charmer. If I acted the same way he did before you walked up, you would have nailed me in the nuts. And don't even try to deny it."  
"...You know, I thought I was judging you too harshly. I even started to think you were kinda cool..." Jazz trailed off. "But I was right all along about that attitude of yours. You're just an asshole. I've known Jamie for years, and I can vouch for him, which is more than I can say for YOU."  
"You know what? I tried to reason with you." Ash scowled. "Not like it does much. You're obviously too thick-headed to listen to my logic."  
"Your 'logic' consists of a sensation of his ki. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you haven't had that ability for long, have you?" Jazz glared over at Ash.  
"I got it when I ate the moldy soup shit that Starfire gave me to make me feel better. I can't even begin to imagine what happened there, but anyway, what's your point?" Ash returned the glare.  
"My POINT is this: don't you think there's a slight chance your senses are OFF? It's not like you're used to it yet." Jazz said, giving off a little smirk.  
"Don't need to be. My senses may have sprung from out of nowhere, but that doesn't mean they're not basically tuned into all spiritual life around me." Ash stated semi-calmly. "I know what I'm sensing. He's got demon energy on him, Jazz. But you don't want to listen to me, do you? I'm not a bright guy, so my opinion automatically doesn't count at all. Well...fuck you." he continued, a rather large scowl on his face. "You want to hang out with Jamie? Be my fucking guest. Don't come crying to me though when you find out that I'm right."  
"FINE!" Jazz shouted, walking out of Ash's apartment and slamming the door behind her.  
"This won't end well..." Ash muttered, as he himself left his apartment, leaping to the bottom of the staircase. As he hit, he swung the main door open and pointed maliciously at Jamie.  
"You! We need to talk, NOW." Ash said, growling. Jamie just shrugged and walked away from the gang, along with Ash.  
"What did you say to Jazz? She just stormed back home all pissed off." Danny called out to Ash.  
"NOT NOW." was Ash's angry response. About a minute later, Ash and Jamie stood far enough out of earshot. "So..." Jamie started.  
"I'm gonna get straight to the point. I know you've got demon energy gathering like crazy in your body." Ash pointed at Jamie.  
"...What the hell is demon energy?" Jamie looked confused.  
"Don't play dumb with me, asshat." Ash growled. "I know you're some sort of evil creature." Ash said, and if looks could kill, Jamie would have been murdered by the glare that our hero was currently providing him with.  
"I get it...you're a freak like Fenton." Jamie grinned. "You go around with your little half-assed notion that you're making the world a better place with your so-called miraculous powers, but the sad truth is that nobody is ever gonna reward you for your hard work."  
"Didn't ask for 'em to." Ash said. "And I see you're obviously uncomfortable with discussing your demon energy based on your sad attempt to change the subject, so for the sake of not exposing you as the fuckrat you are to Danny and Jazz, I'll leave you with this warning...if you do anything to hurt Jazz, be it physically or emotionally, I WILL take your ass down." Ash growled, walking off afterwards. Jamie stood there for a second before chuckling.  
"Oh, I won't hurt her...assuming she doesn't get in my way." Jamie grinned menacingly as his eyes glowed red for a second.

As Jazz stomped into the kitchen, she noticed a lone slip of paper on the table. Picking it up, she read the words written on it out loud to herself.  
"'To whomever reads this first, tell your brother/sister/friends that we've gone ghost hunting by the museum. HAHA, I TOLD YOU THEY WERE REAL, MATT! Love, Dad/Jack'. Well, at least they're gone now." Jazz sighed. "Stupid Ash. Who the hell does he think he is?"

As Jamie walked down the sidewalk, he took notice of a conspicuous redhead following him. This redhead would have been instantly recognizable to the detectives due to his trademark white lab coat or his sinister grin.  
"You really stand out with that coat, ya know. Ever think of something less suspicious?" Jamie asked, his eyes narrowed.  
"That doesn't matter...I couldn't help but overhear you talking to that moron Ash." Wayne said.  
"And?" Jamie looked bored.  
"I hate that little prick. He's been fucking up my plans ever since I met him." Wayne grimaced. "I have an offer for you."  
"What could a wuss like you possibly offer me?" Jamie's eyebrow raised slightly.  
"Aside from sparing you from a horribly painful death when my plans finally DO succeed?" Wayne smirked, but the smirk turned into a frown. "Fine. I'll give you a segment of the dimensional universe to rule."  
"Dimensional universe? You're not only a wuss...you're a psychotic wuss. Just great. Go play with your Barbies somewhere else, punk." Jamie rolled his eyes, and in that second, he narrowly missed having his head blown off by Wayne's Devil Gun.  
"You think I'm fucking kidding now?" Wayne looked angry. "I'm giving you an ultimatum. Either kill Ash for me, or I'll send you on the bullet train to hell. If you do succeed, I won't change my end of the former deal. You'll get a portion as large as which I deem you deserving, IF you kill Ash."  
"Hmm...it would be fun to bully teens from other dimensions." Jamie pondered for a second. "And even if you don't hold up on your deal, it's not like I can't kill you anyway."  
"As backstabbing as they come. Jamie Samson, I think we could actually be...dare I say it...friends." Wayne grinned evilly.

"What the hell happened between you and Jazz?" Danny asked.  
"She's gonna get hurt..." Ash muttered, then spoke up. "Danny, keep an eye on Jazz, okay? If she goes anywhere with Jamie, follow her. I DON'T trust him."  
"And you shouldn't." Maggie said, looking down. "He's got this amulet...it was a family heirloom, but specific instructions were left, instructing that no one was to EVER wear it. He broke that rule one night...and I don't think I'll ever forget how terrifying it was to watch his transform for the first time."  
"Wait...transform?" Ash asked.  
"Yeah...he becomes some sort of demonic creature when he puts on that amulet now." Maggie explained, pulling a picture out and showing it to Ash and friends.  
"DAMN." Yusuke said. "Jamie on steroids." "Looks pretty tough." Danny muttered in amazement. The creature they stared at in the picture was the EXACT same as the creature in Matt and Wendy's photos, the only difference in this situation between them and their daughter being that they were completely oblivious to Jamie being the giant ogre-like creature.  
"Mom and Dad have no clue that he's this...this MONSTER. He used to be tolerable, but since he discovered the amulet's power, he's been robbing and or destroying everything and everyone he can." Maggie said. "I guess I've kept his secret for the sake of the bond we used to have...but he's gotta be stopped. He's gonna try to rob the museum tonight. The scepter adorning the sarcophagus at the Egyptian display is worth a fortune. He wants to steal it."  
"I see...then I'll do what I can to stop him."  
"Thanks." Maggie said.  
"I'll wait for him at the museum tonight, then...I need you to do something for me, though..." Ash trailed off.  
"And that is...?"  
"Help Danny keep an eye out for his sister."  
"Will do."  
"Uh...I'm right here, and I can watch Jazz myself..." Danny chimed in.  
"TO THE MUSEUM!" Ash shouted.  
"Just great...ruins a perfectly nice moment by acting like such a spaz..." Yusuke muttered from the sidelines.  
"...Aw hell...it was supposed to cut away..." Ash said, not realizing initially he had just broken the fourth wall until Yusuke's foot connected with his jaw.  
"You broke the fucking fourth wall, you jackass!" Yusuke shouted, pointing over at a broken window.  
"Uh...Yusuke? That's a regular window." Maggie said, a huge sweatdrop forming on the back of her head.  
"He still acknowledged that we're characters in a story!" Yusuke shouted.  
"So did you." Danny pointed out bluntly.  
"...DAMN IT." Yusuke growled.  
"Quick, fade to the next scene before Yusuke snaps and kills us all!" Danny shouted at the "screen".

Jazz sat on the living room couch, looking extremely bored.  
"Stupid Ash..." she muttered, right before the phone rang. She ran over and picked it up. "Hello?"  
"Jazz?" came Jamie's voice on the other end of the phone.  
"Oh, hey Jamie. What's up?"  
"Just wonderin' if you'd like to go to the museum with me...there's a great Egyptian display I'd like to check out tonight."  
"Tonight? I don't know...it's getting kinda late."  
"Exactly. There'd be fewer people there. We'd have more time to just stare at the exhibits..." Jamie trailed off, and for a split-second, Jazz could swear she heard him let out an evil snicker.  
"Did you just snicker evilly?" Jazz's eyebrow arched as she spoke into the receiver.  
"Uh...no?"  
"I swear I heard you snicker."  
"...Phone static."  
"Oh...actually, that sounded more like-"  
"It wasn't. So, can I count on you to go with me tonight?"  
Jazz weighed her options for a minute, before saying "Sure, why not? It might be fun to see those exhibits without the crowds."  
"Excellent. We should head out soon, then."  
"Right. Where are you calling from, anyway?"  
"The RV."  
"Then why didn't you just come inside and ask me?"  
"...Too much effort."  
"Oh."

It had already turned dark outside when the two teenagers had arrived at the museum. As they walked up to the front door, Jazz noticed two all-important facts, the first being that the lights inside were completely off, but the second and more important being the "Closed" sign on the doors.  
"It's closed...damn." Jamie said, then grinned.  
"Hey, what's with the grin?" Jazz asked, her eyes widening as far as they could when Jamie punched the two locked doors completely off their hinges.  
"And I was hoping not to get the police involved." Jamie smirked.  
"Wh...what the HELL did you just do?" Jazz cried out.  
"You know...you really should have listened to that Ash dude. You never know who you can trust anymore." With that, Jamie started to grunt, as his physique began growing steadily. His hair seemed to draw back into his head, as his clothes ripped from the sheer size his body was growing to. When he stopped, he now resembled a muscular green ogre-ish creature, and had eyes even darker than the inside of a coffin on a moonless night. As he turned to face Jazz, he noticed that she had fainted.  
"Stupid girl." he said, his voice now booming and loud, like thunder. "Oh well...she'll be a good hostage to keep the cops off my tail...not that it matters, anyway." he laughed, slinging Jazz over his shoulder and walking inside. Just a couple of blocks away, Danny and Maggie watched this happen.  
"I always called Jamie a monster. Never thought I was actually right." Danny's eyes were wide.  
"We have more important things to think about, Danny...like how to save your sister from my psycho big brother."  
"I don't think we'll have to worry about that. Remember...Ash should already be inside the museum."  
"Oh yeah...some job we did of watching her, eh?" Maggie groaned.  
"No kidding. Like I said, though...Ash will take care of it." Danny said.

As soon as Jamie walked into the room which contained exactly what he was looking for, he was shocked somewhat to see Wayne sitting atop the sarcophagus.  
"What took ya so long?" Wayne griped.  
"Shut your piehole, Williams." Jamie muttered. "What are you here for?"  
"I'm here to see Ash's death with my own two eyes." Wayne's trademark evil smirk worked its way onto his face.  
"Well, if you're gonna stay around, then make yourself useful and tie this girl up." Jamie grinned. "I'll kill Ketchum, so don't worry about that."  
"Very well." Wayne said, taking Jazz off of Jamie's large shoulder and carrying her back into another room. As soon as Wayne left, Jamie heard laughter ringing throughout the Egyptian display room.  
"So, you showed up. Shoulda known you'd already be on to me." Jamie smirked.  
"I'm always up evil's ass, like a very annoying stick!" Ash's voice rang out, as he mysteriously rose from the very sarcophagus that Wayne was sitting on when Jamie had first arrived. As he rose, the Rift Sword materialized in his right hand.  
"I don't know all the details, but it seems Williams has serious beef with you." Jamie grinned evilly. "Not my concern. I just wanna see you BLEED."  
"I think you have it the wrong way, Jamie. It's YOU who's gonna bleed. I warned you what'd happen if you did anything to Jazz." Ash scowled.  
"No. You are the one who will bleed. And as you lay, broken on the ground...remember my name. I am no longer Jamie Samson. I am now...Samson the Strongman!" the self-proclaimed Samson the Strongman bellowed, before beginning his assault on Ash.  
He began with a powerful right, which was easily dodged by Ash, who simply turned to his side to avoid it. Ash's hair slightly blew with the breeze created with that punch.  
'Damn...he's powerful enough to create a gust of wind when he punches...' Ash thought, his eyes widening as he just barely dodged the second punch Jamie threw his way.  
"What's the matter, Ketchum? Too much of a pussy to fight back?" Samson chortled, right before Ash planted his right foot in the giant's jaw. This action seemed to be completely ineffective against the insanely muscular Samson, however, as proven by his immediate retaliation to Ash, in the form of a hard knee from his right leg into Ash's back. Ash let out a scream as he rocketed up toward the ceiling. Ash's collision left a small impact crater, where he stayed for about a second before falling toward the ground.  
Samson caught the agonized Spirit Detective, however, and slammed him into the ground before Ash could regain his bearings. It was at this moment that Wayne emerged from the adjacent room and started laughing.  
"I didn't think you would actually pull this off so easily." Wayne grinned.  
"How did you think it'd go?" Samson glanced over at Wayne. "I don't pussyfoot around these things, ya know."  
"Of course." Wayne said, pulling a cigarette from his coat pocket and lighting it as he stuck it in his mouth. As he took a drag, a Spirit Gun instantly whizzed by him, leaving only the filter in his mouth.  
"I love doing that...heh..." came Ash's voice, which sounded smart-aleck despite his injuries. Before Jamie could react, Ash jumped out of his reach. As he landed, several spots on his white t-shirt were reddened with blood from his wounds, and he winced noticeably.  
"Looks like you're not as wussy as I thought." Samson smirked. "Good...I love a good challenge. It's boring when my prey doesn't fight back."  
"Then you won't be bored." Ash replied, a mischievous on his face as he raised his Rift Sword and charged the demonic teenager, jumping up at the last second and rocketing into the air. He seemed to stay there for approximately half a minute before descending again, landing right behind Samson.  
"What the hell did that accomplish? You missed me entirely!" Samson growled.  
"Yeah, you're right..." Ash trailed off, then smirked as Samson turned to face him. "Except for the fact that I wasn't aiming at you."  
As Ash finished speaking, several large chunks of ceiling broke apart and fell on Samson, burying him.  
"I told you not to fuck with her." Ash said, his smirk vanishing. He then turned to Wayne and spoke up. "And you...I should have known you'd team up with him. Just another one of the people you've manipulated, eh Wayne? Or should I call you by whatever you're actually called, demon?"  
"If you have to call me something, then Shadow Wayne'll do for now." Wayne smirked, pulling out another cigarette and lighting it.  
"Very well, then...Shadow Wayne...it's over for you. Let's do this." Ash's eyes narrowed angrily.  
"You're funny...why would I fight you right now? Samson hasn't lost yet." Wayne's smirk turned into an evil grin in the blink of an eye, and right after it did, Samson's arms wrapped tightly around Ash.  
"Hey, what the...?" Ash shouted, then screamed at the top of his lungs as Samson began to squeeze him.  
"You're so pathetic. Getting caught off guard like that is the last mistake you'll ever make in this lifetime!" Samson roared, his grip tightening. Ash could slowly feel his body giving out. His vision was blurry, and everything was starting to go white...but suddenly, he could feel Samson letting go of him, as he dropped once again to the ground. He gasped for air as his vision slowly returned.  
"What the...?"  
"It seems your annoying friends are here." Wayne frowned, pointing behind Ash. Ash turned to see Jenny, Yusuke, Mac, Bloo, Danny, and Timmy, all standing ready for battle. "Huh...looks like we were able to help you out after all." Jenny smirked.  
"What do you mean 'we'?" Yusuke asked, his eyes narrowed somewhat comically. "I fired the damn Spirit Gun."  
"It doesn't matter which one of you fired it...I'll kill you ALL!" Samson roared, turning to face them.  
"Think about it Skippy." Jenny warned. "There's six of us and one of you."  
"Hardly sporting odds, ain't it? You misunderstand, your battle is with these guys." Wayne said, smirking as he raised his hand and used the Rift Bracelet, summoning ten Nightmares into the room.  
"Is that supposed to scare us?" Yusuke asked, his eyebrow arching.  
"Kill them all!" Wayne shouted to the small black creatures.  
"Guess so." Yusuke shrugged. "Alright guys, let's waste 'em!"  
"Since when did YOU give orders?" Ash commented, seemingly from way off in the background. The detectives and the Nightmares charged each other, and a fearsome battle then took place, with the detective hacking away at the Nightmares while trying to avoid getting bitten by them. Yusuke and Jenny easily dispatched the four they were taking on, but Danny wasn't faring as well, and had actually picked up Timmy and started swinging him at the four they were taking on.  
"YAAAAAAAAH! WHAT THE HELL?" Timmy shouted while being flung around, his hat amazingly staying on his head.  
"It's called improvising!" Danny shouted back.  
"Uh..." Yusuke said, a large sweat drop forming on the back of his head as he stared on at Danny's feeble attempts to fight the Nightmares off.  
"Why doesn't he just blast them?" Jenny asked, shrugging.  
"Hey Danny! You realize you can just blast these assholes, right?" Yusuke called to the halfa.  
"...No I didn't." Danny looked a tad miffed, before setting Timmy down and blasting each of the four Nightmares into oblivion. Meanwhile, Mac and Bloo stared down the remaining two Nightmares, looking seriously creeped out.  
"What the hell are these things?" Mac said, sweating as he eyed them.  
"Never mind that, Mac! It's WRASSLIN' TIME!" Bloo said, comically grabbing and pile driving a Nightmare.  
"I don't think that's gonna..." Ash started, but was amazed to see the Nightmare dissolve after a few seconds.  
"Okay...that's a new one." Yusuke's eyebrow arched.  
"What the hell..." Wayne muttered, squinting somewhat comically, before growling very audibly and shouting "KILL THEM, DAMN IT!"  
The sole Nightmare looked around, before quickly being dispatched by a stray Spirit Gun from Yusuke.  
"That takes care of that." Danny sighed.  
"Now for you, Wayne!" Jenny growled.  
"Ah ah ah, Samson's still standing. You'll have to go through him to get to me." Wayne grinned.  
"Exactly. I'll take you all down." Samson said, posing masculine for about a minute before realizing that Ash had vanished from everyone's line of sight.  
"Huh? Where'd that runt go?" he bellowed.  
"Right over here, asshole." Ash said, suddenly rising from the shadows again. "And I m about to turn the tables and wipe the floor with you."  
"I highly doubt that, fool." Samson said, smirking as he grabbed the scepter from the sarcophagus.  
"Big deal, you have a wussy blunt weapon now." Ash said.  
"Oh, it's more than that. I now have the power to extend my body. With this scepter, you stand no chance of ever beating me!" With those words, Samson's arm stretched all the way over, hitting Ash square in the face and sending him flying into the far wall.  
"Ash!" Jenny called out.  
"Oh shit...the Hulk meets Mr. Fantastic." Danny groaned.  
"Guys, get that scepter!" Ash ordered. As the others complied, Yusuke casually commented "When the hell did we start taking orders from him?" Jenny just shrugged in response.  
"Good luck with getting this away from me." Samson smirked, stretching out his arms to bat Jenny and Danny away, while stretching out his right foot to do the same to Ash. As he finished batting Jenny away, he violently swung his left arm toward Yusuke, but Yusuke anticipated this, jumping just barely out of his initial reach. This, however, got him to drop his guard: a mistake on his part, as Samson's right arm managed to swat Yusuke hard in the back. As Samson kept nailing all the teenagers, though, he failed to take notice of young Mac and Bloo sneaking up on him. Without warning, Mac grabbed Bloo by the arms and threw him like a boomerang at the giant ogre-like Samson.  
"Bloo, grab the scepter!" Mac called out, getting Samson's attention as he did so.  
"Stupid little...I'll crush you like the ant you are!" Samson growled, turning to face Bloo. As he got ready to catch him, he heard Ash call out to him.  
"You must have the attention span of a toaster!"  
"Huh?" he turned his head just in time to see Ash fire off a Spirit Gun, which careened toward him. colliding with extreme force and nearly dropping him to his knees. Before he could recover sufficiently, Bloo landed on his arm, immediately grabbing the scepter and easily yanking it free from Samson's hand, due to the giant still trying to recover from Ash's well-timed Spirit Gun. He quickly jumped from the giant's arm and landed back on the museum floor. He tossed the scepter into the air, where mere seconds later, it was blown into pieces by Yusuke's Spirit Gun.  
"Now the fight's a little more fair." Jenny commented.  
"Fair? HA! I can still whip all your asses without even breaking a sweat! I don't need the damn Scepter of Osiris when I have this amulet!" Samson laughed, pulling out the amulet. Ash simply started grinning somewhat wickedly.  
"You moron!" Wayne shouted, a scowl on his face. "That's what he's been waiting for!"  
"Wayne's got it right. That's exactly the shithead slip-up I was waiting for you to make. Now, you pissy and perturbed purveyor of priceless plunder, I'm gonna do to you what I should have done earlier today!" Ash said, drawing back his sword, as energy started to gather around him in a swirling blue spiral.  
"Now THAT'S alliteration." Danny commented casually. Ash's swirling blue energy started to gather into his Rift Sword, slowly becoming a flame burning on the blade itself. When it finished gathering, Ash brought the sword to his front, letting the blue flame burn for a few seconds before springing up into the air and releasing the energy in the form of a speeding blue blade. "SPIRIT SLASH!" he shouted, as his bladed energy raced forward, hitting its target straight and true, splitting the amulet cleanly in half.  
"NO!" Samson shouted at the top of his lungs, as he slowly reverted into his human form.  
"And that's that..." Ash sighed, collapsing to his knees from exhaustion.  
"Aw man! This sucks! How am I gonna bully people now?" Jamie moaned, in his regular voice.  
"I think the more pressing question is this...what's stopping me from beating the living shit out of you now?" Danny growled, walking over to Jamie and hoisting him up.  
"Can we talk this over, Fenton?" Jamie grinned sheepishly.  
"'Fraid not, Samson. This time you really screwed up." Danny said, rearing back his fist, when all of a sudden, a voice broke through the darkness surrounding our heroes.  
"Stop!" Maggie called out, running up to Danny. "He's beaten!"  
"Until he finds some other magical artifact or something! Then he'll be right back here torturing us as often as he can!"  
"If you kick him while he's down, then you're absolutely no better than him." Maggie grinned slyly.  
"...Ruin my fun, why don'cha?" Danny moaned, dropping Jamie.  
"Oof!" Jamie let out a groan as he hit the ground butt-first. "Don't think this is over, you freaks. You haven't seen the last of Samson the Strongman! I'll be back...I SWEAR!" he quickly darted off.  
"You shouldn't! It's not nice!" Bloo called after him. Seconds later, the detectives, Timmy, and Maggie all turned their heads at the sound of Wayne clapping.  
"Bravo...heh heh...bravo..." Wayne smirked. "It appears you managed to take Samson out with relative ease. However..." he stood up slowly, drawing Gurthang as he did. "...if you think you'll have an easy time taking me down...you're stupider than that ninny you just scared off."  
'Oh shit...I don't have the strength to fight him right now.' Ash thought, wincing in pain as he clutched his left shoulder. His body ached all over, and he knew that he would be at an extreme disadvantage to fight Wayne as he was now.  
"Ash, let's finish this." Wayne's grin faded as he charged the wounded teenager and slashed at godlike speed. However, before his blow could land, a hand reached out and grabbed his blade. He looked up to see Yusuke holding the blade with a bored look on his face.  
"You swing like a girl." he yawned, putting his middle finger to Wayne's head and flicking him away with practically no effort. Everybody looked on with wide eyes as Wayne's eyes swirled comically after crashing into the wall.  
"NOW that's that." Yusuke grinned. "Any questions, class?" "Just one..." Ash trailed off, before shouting as loud as he could. "HOW THE HELL CAN YOU DO THAT?"  
"Uh...adrenaline rush?" Yusuke had an enormous sweat drop on the back of his head as he stared over at Ash. He suddenly felt a tug on his leg, and he looked down to see Timmy standing there, looking as if he had something to whisper. He bent down to listen to the young boy dressed in a giant tooth costume.  
"Just say you got it from the internet. That ALWAYS works." Timmy flashed a thumbs up.

Three days later, as Ash relaxed in the living room of "Condo Ketchum", he heard a knock at the door.  
"Come in!" he called out to whoever was behind the door. Seconds later, Jazz walked in and sat down on the couch.  
"Hey...how are your injuries healing up?" Jazz asked, in a quiet tone that seemed uncharacteristic of her.  
"They're doin' good. Enma said I'd be back on my feet by the end of the week." Ash chuckled. "Guess I'm made of tougher stuff than even I was aware of."  
"I just wanted to apologize...you know...about Jamie, and what I said to days ago. It's because of me that you're so beat up...all because I wanted to stupidly believe that he was innocent I'm sorry..." she trailed off, tears appearing in the corners of her eyes.  
"...No, don't apologize. I'm the one who should be sorry. Even though I was right, it was still wrong of me to just assume he was a bad guy." Ash said, thinking of how exactly to word what it was he was in the process of saying.  
"But, like you said...you were right. My entire defense was that I thought I knew him better than that."  
"And mine was that I sensed Demon Energy on him." Ash responded.  
"But you were right." came's Jazz's next protest.  
"We were both idiots. Let's leave it at that." Ash smirked.  
"Yeah...but you're a lot stupider than I am." Jazz joked.  
"Yea-HEY!" Ash looked dumbstruck for a second, before his pupils disappeared and his head grew comically large. "You're gonna pay for that one!"  
"Ooh, I'm so scared!" Jazz taunted holding her right index finger to her right eye and sticking her tongue out.  
"Oh, that's real mature! I hope you're ready, cause it's WEDGIE TIME!" Ash retorted, laughing as he chased Jazz around the living room of his apartment. If one were to look at the two of them, they might assume that something more than friendship was going on between the teenagers, but that would be a story for another day...

"That was actually pretty good." Riku commented to Osaka as the two exited the Mushyori City Movie Theatre.  
"Yeah," Osaka replied, lightly swinging her hand back and forth as they walked, which also caused Riku's hand, which was holding hers, to swing as well. "I didn't think 'South Park: Biggerer, Longerer, and Less Jewish' would be any good..."  
"But it was." Riku finished her sentence, which caused both to chuckle. Neither of them said it, but it felt nice, finishing each other s sentences.  
They walked in silence for about ten minutes, not really going anywhere, just walking around, hand in hand, enjoying the beautiful night lights of Mushyori City.  
"So, wher're we goin'?" Osaka finally asked after what seemed like quite some time.  
"Well," Riku began. "I guess we could go ahead and make a portal back whenver we want."  
"Yeah, might be a good idea to find somewhere quiet though."  
"Right, if anything just for privacy reasons." This response caused Osaka to giggle, which in turn made Riku blush. "N...No, I didn't mean it like that."  
"I know, I know." Osaka smiled at him, and she was blushing a little too. "Look, here's a place we can open the rift." She was pointing at an alleyway, just a few feet ahead. She pulled away from Riku and skipped ahead to check it out. Oh, how pretty she looked, skipping away in her black shirt and her jeans. o simple, but on her, Riku thought it was gorgeous. As he stood there for a moment, watching her skip ahead, Riku suddenly felt himself overcome with confidence.  
"It could be the stupidist thing I've ever done," Riku mumbled to himself. "but I'm gonna do it." So as not to be left behind, Riku jogged after her.  
Osaka had just rounded the corner. Perfect, her back was still to him. The alley was short. Maybe five feet from the back wall. Even better.  
"Alright, Riku, this'll work." Osaka said, since she had heard him come up behind her. "Riku?" She began to turn around when he didn't answer, but at that moment, his hands were on her waist. "Ri-" The young woman couldn't even finish her sentence. In one motion Riku turned around, and had her pinned up against the wall, facing him. Osaka gasped out of surprise, but amoment later, even that could not be done, as Riku has pressed his lips full upon her own.  
At first she attempted to jerk away, though Riku, praying more than hoping, that she did it out of surprise, held tight. Sure enough, a moment later, when she realized what was going on, she relaxed up, returning the kiss, and wrapping her arms around Riku's neck, pulling him into it. The two exchanged a romantic kiss of passion for what seemed like quite some time, but nobody was really watching to put a number on the time. Finally, they pulled away from each other, resting their foreheads on one anothers, and just staring deeply into each others eyes.  
"I love you." Riku said, after a long time. His voice was soft, and with every amount of serenity and sincerity in the world. Osaka blushed madly, but she returned his love.  
"I love you too." She smiled, at hearing herself say this and mean it, and having it said to her. It was the first time she'd ever experienced true love, and she had a feeling that Riku had had the same experience not too long ago, when he'd first attempted to court her. She was exactly right.  
The two sat there in silence for awhile longer, until eventually, they fell asleep, Riku sitting down propped up in the back of the alleyway against the wall, Osaka laying her head on his chest as he held her tight and securely. In their world, Riku was the King, and there was no doubt, that Osaka would one day be his Queen.

Enma and Ratty watched the two fall asleep together in the alleyway of Mushyori City. Enma just smiled.  
"Oh Riku, just to think, only a few months ago, you would have had us all dead for Wayne. Now you are one of us, and have even found love with a woman who at one time saw you as nothing more than a monster."  
"I want him to pull his monster out and use it on her!" Ratty said pervertedly. Enma almost fell down completely.  
"What?"  
"We made a bet as to who had the bigger cock when he first got here. I wanna prove to him that I'm the one with the largest womanizer here!" There was silence.  
"You just want to see her naked don't you?" Enma sighed.  
"That too. Dayumn, what a rack. It's gotten bigger since she got here." Enma just sighed, and turned the video monitor off, leaving Riku and Osaka in privacy. Ratty sulked a moment before walking back to his room, and Enma, minus the sulking, did the same.  
But maybe leaving them in an alleyway alone in a city wasn't the safest idea in the world.


	32. The Face of True Evil, Part One

PokeWing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 32:The Face of True Evil, Part 1 A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke.

Disclaimer. Episodes 1 and 25. Read there. YARGH.

The master of time, Clockwork, floated a few feet from the ground in his domain, staring at the window of time. "Things, for once, are starting to look up for the future. This Ash Ketchum may yet be able to save the Dimensional Universe." he said, looking through the window of time at said Spirit Detective, who was currently being tutored by Jazz. Suddenly, though, a new image arrived on-screen. An image of a condemned building exploding, of Danny, in his ghost form, screaming up to the sky in anguish, and of a mangled body laying in the ruins of said building. The body was Jazz.  
"What the...?" Clockwork started to say, before the sound of an explosion rang through the domain. He hurriedly flew over to where the sound of the explosion came from, and there, in many pieces along the ground, was the Fenton Thermos that had been used forever ago by Danny to trap his evil future self.  
"No! He's out!" Clockwork said, eyes wide.

*Small bridge at opening*  
Shot of snow falling.

senaka ni mimi wo pitto tsukete dakishimeta

A back shot of Ash walking through the falling snow, then a front shot of the same thing.

kyoukaisen mitai na karada ga jama da ne dokka ichai-sou na no sa

Shot of Mac and Bloo ice skating.

damatte'ru to chigire-sou dakara, konna kimochi

Shot of Misty, with her hair blowing in the wind.

hankei san ME-TORU inai no sekai de motto motto hittsuitetai no sa

Shot of Brock doing laundry.

kawaribanko de PEDARU wo koide

Still shot of Wayne.

ojigi no himawari toorikoshite

Closeup shot of Riku, as his head raises and he looks toward the camera.

gungun kaze wo nomikonde, sou tobe-sou jan

Zooming-in shot of Janine, then a still shot of Plasmius.

hajimete kanjita kimi no taion dare yori mo tsuyoku naritai

Various shots of the ghosts that constantly terrorize Amity Park.

attakai RIZUMU niKO no shinzou ga kuttsuite'ku

Shot of Ember and Desiree, followed by a shot of a shadowy man with wild, long red hair. At the very end of the line, his eyes open as he smirks.

kuchibiru to kuchibiru, me to me to te to te

Shot of Danny smirking as he holds up his left hand in a fist.

kami-sama wa nanimo kinshi nanka shitenai aishite'ru

Shot of Yusuke holding out his finger, as though he's going to do the Spirit Gun.

aishite'ru aishite'ru

Shot of Jenny walking forward, the shot zooming in after every other second.

atashi mada koritenai otona ja wakan'nai kuyashikute setsunakute misetakute PANKU shichau soppo mite matte'ru kara POKKE no mayotte'ru te de

Shot of Jazz staring out over the horizon. She turns around to see her family, and smiles.

hoppe ni furete koishite'ru CHIKARA ni mahou wo kakete taiyou ga zutto shizumanai you ni

Shot of Enma walking across a bridge. He meets up with Ash, and the two walk off-screen as the title "PokeWing Z:Dimension Rifters" appears, along with the subtitle "Amity Park Hijinks". Fade to black.

(Title screen)The Face of True Evil, Part 1!  
(Subtitle)Scream. Now.  
(Image)Jazz, bound with ectoplasm, sits in a corner shaking with fear, as a shadowy figure looms over her, its face twisted into an evil grin.

Guest Voices:David Carradine - Clockwork Eric Roberts - Dan Phantom

As Yomi and Tomo walked to their apartment from Sarayashiki High School, they started to pass the very alley in which Riku and Osaka were currently sleeping. Tomo just so happened to notice the two sleeping individuals, or more importantly, she noticed the much taller Riku, and let out a scream that could shatter the sky itself. The scream jarred the two into the world of the living.  
"ACK! WHAT THE FUCK?" Riku shouted.  
"MASS MURDERER! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" Tomo screamed.  
"Mass murderer?" Osaka asked, still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, before noticing Yomi and Tomo standing there looking freaked out. "Miss Tomo! Miss Yomi! What're y'all doing here?"  
"OSAKA, RUN FOR IT! DON'T YOU RECOGNIZE THAT HORRIBLE MAN?" Tomo screamed, in a voice not as loud as her initial scream, but still loud enough to wake up other people.  
"Oh, you mean Riku?" Osaka asked.  
"YES! YES, RIKU! DID YOU FORGET THAT HE MURDERED MISS YUKARI?" Tomo's voice refused to lower any further.  
"But...he's changed now." Osaka protested.  
"BULLSHIT HE'S CHANGED! A LEOPARD NEVER CHANGES HIS SPOTS!" "No, he really has changed. He's helping Ash now."  
"I DON'T BELIEVE THAT FOR A GOD DAMN SECOND!"  
"Look, I'm risking my life being out here with him! Do you honestly think even I'D be that stupid as to come out here if I couldn't trust him?"  
"I'm making no excuses for my crimes." Riku explained. "What I did cannot be undone, and even if it could, I'm not asking for your forgiveness, nor would I ever expect it."  
"I don't think he's lying. Look at his eyes, Tomo." Yomi said, calmly.  
"What about them?"  
"Do you just forget horrifying things at the drop of a hat? His eyes were RED the last time we saw him!" Yomi argued.  
"...Oh yeah. What the hell's with the change?" Tomo questioned.  
"My eyes change depending on my mood. Regularly, they're this color, but when I power up or get mad, they change to the red you saw."  
"Which one was it when you..." Tomo trailed off.  
"I was mad. I didn't know why at first, but I figured it out shortly after our meeting. I figured out that I was enraged at being a tool for Wayne. I was also enraged that I was separated from my mother." "Your mother?"  
"His mom's Miss Nyamo." Osaka stated.  
"...NO FREAKING WAY!" Tomo shouted. "NYAMO'S HIS MOM?"  
"Yeah, that's what Ash said." Osaka laughed.  
"By the way..." Yomi said, interrupting the current conversation to switch topics. "I couldn't help but notice you were sleeping TOGETHER."  
"WHAAAAAAAAAT?" Tomo shouted. "Jesus F-word Christ, Osaka! I can understand feeling safer, but having sex with him?"  
"What? No, it's not like that!"  
"The hell it isn't!" Tomo argued.  
"Actually, they WERE fully clothed." Yomi observed.  
"Oh yeah..." Tomo realized. "What are you doing here? And where are you staying?"  
"We were just hangin' out. As for where I live, Riku and I both live in the Spirit World's castle."  
"Speaking of which, we should probably get going." Riku said.  
"Yeah..." osaka trailed off "Well, hopefully we'll catch y'all again soon!"  
"That'd be nice..." Yomi smiled. Both she and Tomo stood and watched Riku Kurosawa and Ayumu "Osaka" Kasuga depart into the newly formed rift, and the two stood there for a few seconds, completely silent.  
"So...wanna get lunch?" Tomo asked, breaking the silence. Yomi just sighed.

Ash had just finished his homework for the evening and decided to watch some television with his new friend, the very tutor he swore he hated.  
"Seinfeld?" Ash asked, as though he knew the answer already.  
"Seinfeld." Jazz confirmed.  
Ash switched the channel to TBS so they could watch reruns of Seinfeld. He then laid back on the couch and kicked his bare feet up. "You know, I never thought I'd say this, but it's good that we actually stopped fighting." Ash said.  
"Yeah." Jazz agreed.  
"And now I have a female friend who understands every last thing there is to know about me...more or less." Ash said, smiling across the room.  
"And all it cost you was your 'tough guy' mask." Jazz said, smirking as her eyes narrowed.  
"Such a loss there." Ash said, rolling his eyes with a grin.  
"Oh, I know." Jazz teased. "It's tearing you apart inside, isn't it?"  
"Sure is."  
Suddenly, Ash's communicator started beeping. "Why does he always call when Seinfeld's on?" he asked, his eyes narrowing as he pressed the button on it, causing the screen to turn on. "Talk to me."  
"Ash, have you noticed what day it is?" Enma asked.  
"Don't tell me it's your birthday. I totally forgot to get a present!" Ash said.  
"No, Ash. It's not my birthday. It's December nineteenth." Enma explained. "A month has passed. The rift should already be open."  
"So as soon as I go into this dimension, I can reach the Spirit Stone?" Ash asked.  
"Providing it hasn't already been swiped." Enma said.  
Jazz, who had been listening, interrupted Enma. "Wait, what do you mean, providing it hasn't been swiped? It's in a rift located inside the Ghost Zone, right?"  
"That's right." Enma said, smacking his head. "The only one who could get his hands on it and actually know what it does is Vlad Master...I mean, Plasmius!" he quickly corrected himself, sheepishly grinning.  
"Enma, I've known about Masters for a while now." Jazz commented nonchalantly. "I know he's a half-ghost named Plasmius who wants revenge on Dad for the accident he caused nearly twenty-one years ago."  
"She never ceases to amaze me." Enma said, his eyes narrowing comically.  
"Yeah, I get that a lot." Jazz said, with a playful smirk.  
"Anyway, there are two things you need to know about this particular rift." Enma said.  
"And you not already having told me them is wasting valuable time!" Ash said.  
"You're right. The first is that this new area will be an uncharted region of the Ghost Zone. Even I don't know what's in there. There could be ghosts far more powerful than Wayne or Plasmius could ever hope to be." Enma explained.  
"Gee, that's comforting." Ash said, his eyes narrow.  
"The second thing is that this rift is only big enough for one person to pass through, and there's a good chance the rift might close right behind you." Enma said.  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Ash said, thrusting his right hand up. "You mean only one of us can go?"  
"And they might be STUCK there afterward?" Jazz chimed in.  
"That's basically it, yeah."  
"So...the time has finally come...it's the endgame." Ash said.  
"Yeah. If you can get the Spirit Stone, defeat Wayne. When Wayne's dead, our mission's over." Enma said.  
Ash looked down. "Then it's time to say goodbye to all of my friends. I'm gonna go in myself."  
"Ash, you and the others should talk something like this over." Jazz suggested, her eyes wide.  
"What's this about the 'others'?" Yusuke said, as he, Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Jenny entered the room.  
"..." Ash remained silent, before adding "It's nothing."  
"Ash?" Sam asked. "Something wrong? You seem a little tense."  
Ash looked at all the friends he had made during his journey, then he smiled warmly.  
"Hold on just a second..." Ash trailed off, whispering something to Enma. They could hear Enma whispering something back to Ash.  
"Hey guys...I was thinking, maybe we could get...a group photo." Ash said, suddenly.  
"Why are ya wanting to do that all of a sudden?" Jenny wondered out loud.  
"It's just...I'd like to have some pictures of us to show to Mom and Misty, when I get back to Pallet Town someday." Ash said.  
"Sure, I can pay for it." Sam said, smiling.  
"No...I will." Enma said, making Sam and Tucker gasp, since they had no idea that Enma existed.  
"Who was that?" Tucker gasped.  
Suddenly, a rift opened in front of them. Their eyes widened as they saw the dashing lord of Spirit World exit from it.  
"Enma?" Yusuke asked, in shock.  
"Yeah. S'me." Enma said, smiling. "Sam Manson, Tucker Foley, it's a pleasure to meet you both. Ash told me quite a bit about you."  
"Forgive me for being a LITTLE weirded-out, but people don't usually come out of giant, swirling vortexes that form outta nothing."  
Tucker said. "Uh...guys..." Ash said. "This is my boss, Enma."  
"...Hi." Sam said, her eyes still wide, as she extended her hand slowly.  
"Wait, how come you didn't introduce him to Jazz?" Tucker asked, looking over at the semi-relaxed redhead.  
"I met Jazz the night Ash came here, through the communicator." Enma explained.  
"So, did the rift finally open?" Jenny asked.  
"Well actually..." Enma started, before Ash cleared his throat. "...No. I just came to finance your group photo and to introduce myself to Sam and Tucker here."  
"And now that introductions are out of the way..." Ash said. "Let's go!"  
Danny, who had chosen not to speak until that time, spoke up with "Ash, what's going on, seriously?" as the friends left.  
"Nothing. Why?" Ash asked.  
"You act like this is the last time the lot of us'll ever be together." Danny said. He then noticed Ash's sad smile. "That's it, isn't it?"  
"Of course not. Can't a guy have fun with his friends?" Ash said.  
"Of course, it's just...you're acting WEIRD." Danny said.  
"And everything that's been happening in the past month has been normal?" Ash asked, his eyes narrowing comically.  
"Point taken." Danny said, his own eyes narrowing as they left the house.  
"No, it's just that...recently I've been feeling weird. Like something's happening inside of me. I know it's not puberty. Or at least, regular puberty." Ash said. "Maybe spiritual puberty?"  
"Can you HAVE spiritual puberty?" Danny asked, as they continued to walk.  
"Yeah. Yusuke said his friend Kuwabara's powers matured and grew stronger. Maybe that's finally happening to me." Ash said.  
"Maybe..." Danny trailed off, as they caught up with the others.  
"What were you boys talking about?" Enma asked.  
"We think Ash might be reaching spiritual puberty." Danny said.  
"You mean spirit evolution." Enma said. "It's when his power goes away for a bit, then comes back, stronger than ever. And no, he's not due for that for another eleven months."  
"Well, there IS something going on in my body, Enma..." Ash said.  
'It's impossible...he couldn't already be growing them, could he?' Enma thought, his eyes wide.  
"It's probably just a stomach ache, Ash. It'll pass." he spoke up. "Right now, let's go get those pictures taken."  
"Right." Ash said.

Meanwhile, a giant blue, electric orb appeared next to the recently-rebuilt Nasty Burger. It expanded and vanished, as a figure emerged from the middle of it.  
"Well well well...back in Amity Park again." the sinister-looking being said. As he emerged from the shadows, his features were revealed. He wore a mostly-white jumpsuit, with black down the middle, and a familiar-looking "D" on the chest area. He had flaming, spiky white hair, and a white goatee. His eyes looked almost human, except for the evil shade of red that were his irises.  
He had a white cape flowing behind him, and skin had a bluish tint to it. He pulled out a picture from his jumpsuit. It was a single picture of Jazz. He smirked looking at it.  
"Time for an unpleasant family reunion, Jazz." he said, before laughing as he turned invisible and flew off.  
Suddenly, a familiar figure emerged from the shadows.  
"Family reunion?" Motoko mused. "Master Wayne should hear about this..."

"That'll be a hundred bucks." the clerk said.  
"A HUNDRED?" Enma shouted. "That's highway robbery!"  
"You wanted enough copies to split between you, right? Then you wanted a few solo pictures. That all comes to one hundred bucks." the clerk explained.  
"Fine, I'll pay it...but mark my words, we shall never come here again!" Enma shouted, slamming a hundred-dollar bill on the desk.  
"Thank you, come again." the clerk said, after handing Enma the photos. Enma simply growled in response, as he and the others exited the large building where they had, just a couple of hours ago, had their pictures taken.  
"So, whaddaya all wanna do now?" Ash asked.  
"Let's go rage against the machine!" Sam said.  
"You know, Sam, technically, my Spirit Detectives and I are part of this 'machine' you speak of." Enma said, nonchalantly.  
"...Let's go rage against the machine!" Sam repeated, grinning wickedly.  
"Very well, then. Ratty, come in." Enma spoke into his own communicator.  
"Shake that ass...OH YEAH!" came Ratty's voice from the other side of the communicator, before visual contact was made and Enma saw Riku, in his French maid outfit, dusting, as Ratty tried to coax him into doing the very line he had said seconds before.  
"Rattabald!" Enma said sternly.  
"Foo'! I told you not to call me by my full name!" Ratty growled.  
"Nevermind that! We need eggs! Lots and lots of eggs! And black spraypaint!"  
"Don't forget toilet paper!" Danny added. "Preferrably toilet paper devoid of Dad's face."  
"Aw man..." Ratty said, holding up a full roll of Fenton Wipe, then tossing it aside. "Whaddaya need this stuff for anyway?"  
"We're gonna mess with the Man." Enma said, with a smirk.  
"Uh, Enma, aren't WE the Man?" Ratty asked.  
"Universally, yes. But here in Amity Park...no. Not technically." Enma said.  
"Whaddaya mean, not technically?" Ratty asked, genuinely curious as to what Enma could have meant.  
"I mean...my bosses are 'the Man' here." Enma explained.  
"BOSSES?" Ash shouted. Everyone just looked on with beady eyes.  
"Yes. My bosses. I'm the third-highest figure of authority. These two above me act as the second. They replaced Sardius after he died." Enma explained.  
"The Observants?" Danny asked.  
"Yes, Danny." Enma said. "I know about your little ordeal with them not too long back."  
"This is a bit of a shock." Ash said.  
"Really?" Enma asked.  
"Yeah. Here I was thinking you were, essentially, God." Ash said.  
"No, I only handle the checking-in of recently-departed souls." Enma explained. "I also 'govern' most of the surrounding dimensions, only back in your time period. My son Koenma must be the one ruling in this time period, and I can only assume the Observants are still ruling over Amity Park, providing that nothing's happened to them in the past few months."  
"Wouldn't know anything about that. In fact, if Clockwork hadn't said anything about them, I wouldn't know that they exist. I've never seen them." Danny said.  
"Really...that much I wasn't aware of." Enma said, glancing over at Danny.  
"Wait..." Sam interjected. "If they're your bosses, and you cause complete anarchy, wouldn't that get you fired? I don't wanna be the person who got you canned!"  
"No, Samantha." Enma said. "They'll do nothing more than slap me on the wrist, figuratively speaking. They know I would never do anything to truly upset the order in their control zone, just as they would never step into mine and try to upset it, barring some unforeseen circumstance that would force them to do so."  
"So am I sending these things, or what?" Ratty asked.  
"Send Botan right away!" Enma ordered. "We're totally gonna piss off the police, and they can't do anything about it cause we're all underage!"  
"Uh..." Ash said, looking up and down at Enma.  
"What is it, Ash?" Enma said, clenching his left fist faux-dramatically, as a comical fiery background faded in behind him.  
"Aren't you like, a thousand and four?" Ash asked, a large sweatdrop running down the right side of his face as he looked on with beady eyes.  
"That's hardly the point! I can simply run away when the law comes!" Enma said, brandishing a cheesy-looking jetpack.  
"What the HELL is that?" Yusuke and Jenny simultaneously asked, joining Ash in his earlier sweatdrop/beady-eyed look at the odd ruler of Spirit World.  
"I call it the Enma-tron Five Thousand!" Enma shouted, grinning cheesily as his eyes narrowed to narrow slits.  
"Like father, like son. Hey Enma, your son did the same thing when the Dark Tournament came around." Yusuke said, his eyes narrowing comically.  
"Did he? Really?" Enma asked, his eyes widening slightly.  
"Yyyyyep." Yusuke responded, sounding bored.

Meanwhile, at the third warehouse on the pier of Amity Park, Motoko had finished reporting her findings to Wayne.  
"Really...he referred to the halfa's sister as family?" Wayne asked, his voice sounding intrigued.  
"Not exactly. He said it was time for an unpleasant family reunion." Motoko said. "I just assumed he was related to her."  
"Oh, if I'm correct in my own assumption, he IS related to her..." Wayne said, with a smirk. "You said he had a D on his chest, right?"  
"Yes sir." Motoko said, before realizing what Wayne was getting at. "You don't mean...?"  
"Yes, Motoko. This guy must be who our little Danny grows into." Wayne said, his smirk becoming an evil grin as he added, "Things just keep getting more and more interesting around here."

"Here you are, four dozen eggs, ten rolls of toilet paper devoid of Jack Fenton's face, and seven cans of black spraypaint. Enjoy, boys." Botan said, depositing the havoc-causing items on a nearby car before materializing her oar and flying off once again.  
"Okay, Danny, Tucker, and Yusuke, man the eggs. I'll take the toilet paper along with Jenny and Ash. Samantha, looks like you and Jasmine are..." Enma trailed off, noticing the lack of Jazz, and, for that matter, Ash.  
"Where did those two go?"

Meanwhile, on the roads of Amity Park, a familiar two-door, lavender car drove along, back toward the Fenton house.  
"You didn't want to cause any anarchy?" Jazz asked.  
"Nah, I'm not in the mood right now." Ash said.  
"Is it because of the rift?" Jazz asked.  
"Yeah. Also...I didn't lie to your brother or Enma. I really am feeling something weird inside of me. I think my powers are about to evolve." Ash explained.  
"Evolve? Your powers can do that?" Jazz questioned, her eyebrows arching.  
"According to Enma, they can. He said I wasn't due for a spirit evolution for another eleven months, though." Ash said, recalling what Enma had told him.  
"So how come you're feeling what you're feeling?" Jazz asked.  
"Enma claims it's a stomach ache. How did he know I was feeling it in that area?" Ash said, his eyebrows narrowing as he continued. "I think he knows more about what's going on inside of me than he's willing to admit."  
"Well...maybe you can ask him face-to-face when you get back from getting the Spirit Stone." Jazz said.  
"..." Ash remained silent, as he looked ahead at the road they were driving on. He started to think of it as a metaphor for his own life. He pictured himself as the car he was sitting in currently, and the road as the path he was travelling. There would be many twists and turns. He could only wonder if the decision he had just made in his mind was the right one. He was brought out of his thoughts by Jazz, who spoke up.  
"...You're not coming back if the door remains open, are you?" she said.  
Ash just smiled sadly, and shook his head. "No." he murmured. "I'm going to head for the Central Dimension and return to Pallet Town."  
"But...what about your friends?" Jazz asked.  
"Yusuke can take care of Wayne, if worse comes to worse." Ash said. "He's been masking his Spirit Energy ever since I met him. This is for the best..." he trailed off, as Jazz pulled into the backyard garage of her house. Turning the car off, she removed the ignition key and opened her door, as Ash opened his door as well. As they climbed out of the car, Jazz walked over and closed the garage door. The two then entered the house proper. As they made their way toward the basement, Jazz suddenly stopped, and said "Wait...weren't you going to say goodbye to your friends?"  
"Yeah, that's why I swiped these from Enma when he wasn't looking." Ash said, pulling out two copies of a picture featuring simply him, grinning ear to ear.  
"I'm gonna write a note on the back of one of them." he explained.  
"And the other?" Jazz asked.  
"...It's for you to remember me by." Ash said, sadly smiling again.  
"Oh..." Jazz trailed off.  
"We'd better hurry...I don't know how long that rift's going to stay open." Ash said. "I wouldn't have even done this normally, but all of you mean a lot to me..."  
"Then why are you leaving?" Jazz asked.  
"Because then Wayne'll have no chance of ever getting his hands on the Spirit Stone. By the time he would end up finding the Central Dimension Rift, I'd have the Spirit Stone hidden." Ash explained, as he and Jazz descended the staircase.  
"Oh." was all Jazz could say. She seemed lost in thought as they reached the bottom of the stairs. Suddenly, Ash's communicator started beeping.  
"Figures he'd call about now..." Ash said quietly, as he turned on the communicator.  
"Yeah?" he asked, not looking down at the communicator.  
"Ash, where are you?" Enma asked.  
"At Fentonworks with Jazz. I'm about to head into the Fenton Portal." Ash said.  
"Well then, good luck on your way there and back." Enma said.  
"Not coming back." Ash said. "The Spirit Stone will be safer in Pallet Town."  
"I suppose it would, but..." Enma started, before Ash cut him off.  
"I don't want to hear 'but'...I'm going. Goodbye, Enma." Ash said, turning off his communicator and walking over in front of the Fenton Portal, after a few minutes of writing his note on the back of one of his pictures.  
"Ash..." Jazz trailed off, as she looked over at him.  
"Yeah. I know. Ditto." Ash said, smiling over at her.  
"We just became friends..." Jazz said.  
"Jazz..." Ash trailed off.

(Incomplete, by the Backstreet Boys)

"You knew it wouldn't last forever." Ash said, smiling sadly.  
"Yeah...I know." Jazz said, her eyes gazing away from the fourteen year old Spirit Detective. In a month, they had all been through so much. Hell, she and Ash had even switched bodies for a few days.  
*Empty spaces fill me up with holes Distant faces with no place left to go*  
"Ash..." she said, looking his way sadly.  
"Goodbye, Jazz." Ash said, as he stepped into the Fenton Portal.  
*Without you within me I can t find no rest Where I m going is anybody s guess*  
Jazz stared for a few seconds at the swirling green matter, before hanging her head, grabbing the photo that Ash wrote his farewell message on, and walking up the stairs.  
*I ve tried to go on like I never knew you I m awake but my world is half asleep*  
From there, she walked over to her desk and sat down, before starting to write in her diary. She then noticed the solo picture of Ash, grinning from ear-to-ear. Tears began to well up in her eyes.  
*I pray for this heart to be unbroken But without you all I m going to be is*  
She began to think of Ash. The way he smiled...the way he laughed...the way he would always be there for his friends...  
*incomplete*  
She then buried her head in her hands and began to sob loudly.  
(bridge)

Cut to Ash, inside the Ghost Zone.  
"It's the door on the right, Ash." Enma said.  
"Yeah..." Ash said, sadly.  
"Something wrong?" Enma asked.  
*Voices tell me I should carry on But I am swimming in an ocean all alone*  
"No. Everything's going just as you wanted it to." Ash said, sounding somewhat bitter.  
"...It's not too late to go back, Ash." Enma said, suddenly.  
"No. I set out months ago to do this. I'm gonna do it." Ash said.  
*Baby, my baby It s written on your face You still wonder if we made a big mistake*  
Danny walked into Jazz's room, hearing her sobs. "Jazz? What's wrong?"  
She simply held up the photo she'd picked up down in the lab. Danny flipped it over and silently read what Ash had written...  
*I ve tried to go on like I never knew you I m awake but my world is half asleep I pray for this heart to be unbroken But without you all I m going to be is incomplete*  
"Dear friends...  
Sorry for not telling you this in person. The new rift is only big enough for one person, so I'm going in myself. There's a good chance it'll close behind me, and even if it doesn't, I'm going to take the stone back to Pallet Town with me. Thank you all for everything. I will never forget the times we've shared together. Yusuke, I'm counting on you, Jenny, Bloo, and Danny to kick Wayne's ass for me. I knew the entire time about your hidden strength. Everyone, I thank you for these precious memories. Love,  
Ash"  
"Oh god..." Danny said, his eyes narrowing in sadness.  
*I don t mean to drag it on, but I can t seem to let you go I don t wanna make you face this world alone I wanna let you go (alone)*  
Cut to the other Detectives, a few hours later. "He's...he's not gonna come back, is he?" Mac asked, looking down the hall at the oddly quiet room that once belonged to Ash.  
"Nope..." Yusuke said, also looking down the hall.  
*I ve tried to go on like I never knew you I m awake but my world is half asleep*  
A few minutes later, after Yusuke and Mac walked away, Jenny walked up and heard a noise. Excitedly, she ran to the now-closed door and swung it open, hoping to see Ash. Instead, she just saw that Ash's Soul Sword had dropped to the floor. She walked over and examined it.  
*I pray for this heart to be unbroken But without you all I m going to be is incomplete*  
She dropped to her knees with a thud as oil began to leak from her eyes in the same manner that tears would leak from a human's eyes. She let out a sob of her own, as she clutched the sword to her.

*Incomplete*

The next day, the phone rang over at the Spirit Detectives' apartment, and Jenny answered it.  
"Hello?" Jenny asked, sounding a bit depressed.  
"Is Danny there?" came a deep voice from the other side of the line.  
"Who is this?" Jenny asked.  
"Someone who wants to speak with Danny Fenton. That's all you need to know." the voice said.  
"He's not here right now." Jenny responded angrily. "Why don't you try calling him at his house? At least then I won't have to hear you being a jackass."  
"Or maybe YOU should just shut up and relay this message to him." the voice said.  
"If you're going to be an asshole about it, then forget it." Jenny said, seething.  
"Very well. Then when Danny asks why his sister's dead, you can say it was because you wouldn't shut up long enough to receive a chance to save her life." the voice said.  
"...WHERE'S JAZZ?" Jenny screamed into the phone.  
"Oh, she's safe, for now. I don't have her...not yet, anyway. Now, are you going to be a good girl and let me give you the directions, or am I just going to have to kill her myself when I get my hands on her?" the voice asked, with a slight laugh afterward.  
Hearing no response from Jenny, the voice continued. "I'm about to take her now. Don't think you can beat me to her. If you want to find her, come to the row of condemned buildings in southern Amity Park." the voice finished, and the line went dead.  
"...Damn!" Jenny said.

Meanwhile, at Casper High School, Jazz was cleaning out what remained in her locker that she'd need over Winter Break.  
She turned her head as she heard some whistling, assuming it was the school janitor. However, she was wrong...VERY wrong. She saw the face of Danny's evil future self as he floated across the hallway connected to the one she was currently in. Stifling a scream, she quickly ducked behind a locker, praying he wouldn't notice, since she was currently unarmed. Suddenly, a hand clamped over her mouth, causing her to let out a muffled scream.  
"Shhh! Jazz, shut it! You're gonna give away our position!" came the voice of her "assailant". Much to her relief, it was Danny.  
"Danny, he's back..." Jazz whispered to him.  
"Yeah, I know...my evil future self." Danny whispered back. "I saw him. We need to get into the janitor's closet so I sneak us outta here and get the others."  
"We need to make sure that he's gone first." Jazz whispered, ever-so-slightly peeking out from behind the locker. Not seeing Dan, she made a small motion with her hand, and she and Danny crept across the hallway into the Janitor's closet.  
"Phew...now, let's get outta here, Danny..." Jazz started, but trailed off when she heard Danny start to laugh.  
"What's so funny?" Jazz asked.  
"You! You must have the memory of a toaster!" Danny laughed, his voice turning deep as he continued to laugh...and increase in size, as well as muscle. Jazz gasped in horror as Danny's skin turned blue, and his irises turned a frightening red color.  
His hair turned white, and lengthened somewhat as his uniform appeared, part white, part black, with the same "D" on the chest.  
"YOU!" Jazz said, as he finished transforming.  
"Yeah, ME. You forgot I could duplicate."  
"Whatever you're plotting, you won't get away with it...uh..." Jazz said, trying to sound brave, and dramatic, but failing due to not knowing exactly what to call him. "...Evil Danny!"  
"Danny is SO ten years ago. I prefer Dan. Dan Phantom." the evil future form of Danny, now known as Dan, said.  
"That was my next guess!" Jazz said, faux-dramatically.  
"I know you're unarmed, Jazz. I'll make this easy for you. START RUNNING." Dan said, opening the door to the Janitor's closet and actually stepping aside.  
Jazz didn't need to be told again. Like a rocket, she shot toward the door, running as fast as her legs would take her. Unfortunately for her, that speed was nowhere near fast enough to escape Dan, as he shot her ankles, causing them to be bound in the very ectoplasmic substance he had fired. With her feet bound, Jazz fell toward the floor, slamming her nose against the ground very hard. As she raised her head groggily, blood trickled from her nose.  
"Whoops! Too slow!" Dan said, laughing, as he floated over to her, bent down, and forced her hands behind her back. He then bound her hands with ectoplasm. Watching her struggle futily, he picked her up and carried her over his shoulder as he flew out of the school with his hostage in tow. "So, you wanted to know what I'm planning?" Dan asked casually, smirking as he did so.  
"AND where you're taking me." Jazz said angrily.  
"In order, I'm simply trying to insure my own existence, and don't you watch the news? There's a row of condemned buildings set to be leveled in an hour and ten minutes. You and I are paying a visit there." Dan said, laughing evilly as the two of them disappeared from sight.

"Here comes the rift, Ash..." Enma said, to the big screen attached to his roof, that currently had Ash's face on it.  
"Yeah...I see it." Ash said. Before Ash could move further down the path, though, Enma felt a horrible presence coming from Amity Park. His eyes widened tremendously, and Ratty noticed it.  
"Somethin' wrong, Enma?" Ratty asked.  
"What is this energy...?" Enma said, his voice barely audible.  
"Uh...boss man?" Ratty asked.  
"Someone in Amity Park is in TERRIBLE danger, Ratty." Enma said, his voice barely above a whisper. He then spoke loud enough for Ash to hear him. "Ash, abort mission!"  
"What? Why?" Ash said, shocked.  
"Someone's about to die if we don't interfere!" Enma said. "But the Spirit Stone..." Ash trailed off. "Forget the Spirit Stone! Jasmine is going to die if you don't abort your mission!" Enma said, before covering his mouth, upon realizing he'd let it slip on who was in danger. Ash's eyes narrowed to dangerous slits.  
"Point me at the bastard who's trying to kill her." Ash said. Enma noticed the tiniest tinge of blue in Ash's eyes.  
"I'm going to use my power to open a rift back into Amity Park. It should drop you off right above Fentonworks. Head to southern Amity Park when you emerge IMMEDIATELY."  
"Got it! Hang on, Jazz!" Ash called, right before his Spirit Energy erupted into a blue orb, completely hiding him from sight.  
"Oh God..." Enma said. "Ash, listen up! I was hoping this wasn't going to happen to you for another two years, but you're finally growing them!"  
"Them?" Ash shouted, before an agonized scream burst forth from his throat.  
"The next thirty minutes will be more painful than anything you've ever experienced, but do NOT sink into unconsciousness!"  
Enma explained.  
Ash's only response was another agonized scream.

Jazz now sat, bound with more ectoplasm. Extra amounts had been added, securing her to an old, wooden chair inside one of the condemned buildings. Dan was pacing back and forth in front of her.  
"Too bad we don't have more time to spend together, sister dear." Dan said, smirking. "But time flies when you're having fun."  
"I must have missed the part where this was fun." Jazz added, glaring up at Dan, while struggling to get free.  
"Watching you pathetically attempt to save yourself. That's fun enough for me." Dan said. "Since you're so much smarter than me, Jazz, here's a little quiz for you." he said, grinning.  
"Oh really? Lay it on me." Jazz said, putting on a lot of bravado, despite the fact that her heart was pounding in fear.  
"Who's going to save you? Is it A: your loser friend Ash? No. He's gone." Dan said, causing Jazz to snarl at him.  
"Is it B: Danny? No, he couldn't even save you, our parents, or his friends on his own last time. So is the answer C: you're going to save yourself? Not a chance. You can't even break free. Even if you did, you'd have to get past me, and you beating me isn't in ANY of the futures I know of. D: The remaining 'Spirit Detectives'? Hell no. I'm far too powerful for even their current leader. E:Mom and Dad? No. In fact, if they show up, they'll be joining you. So, the answer is the same as it was last time. None of the above."  
"Regardless of the fact that he had help, Danny still beat you last time on his own, or so I've heard." Jazz said angrily. "And he WILL beat you again."  
"Not likely. I've had quite an increase since I was imprisoned in the Fenton Thermos. Turns out I nearly doubled in this stuff you call Spirit Energy. Danny can't take me. Unless he's risen to S class level while I've been out of commission."  
'But Enma said Danny was only B plus...' Jazz thought, in shock.  
"So, he's B plus rank." Dan said, with a smirk, causing Jazz's eyes to widen tremendously.  
"How did you...?" she said, only to be cut off by Dan.  
"That whole energy-increase thing I told you about? Yeah, turns out I gained the ability to read minds along with it." Dan said, smirking.  
'Damn, I'm not even safe in my own mind...' Jazz thought.  
"No. No you're not." Dan said. "Any last words before I leave?" he asked.  
"Yeah, just three." Jazz said, hearing voices outside. "HELP! HELP M-" she started to scream, but was cut off by Dan, who shot ectoplasm onto her mouth, effectively gagging her. She was unable to make even the tiniest sound as Dan started to float out of the building, calling back "Not that I wouldn't have done it anyway, but thanks for being stupid enough to remind me to gag you!", and laughing as he phased out of the building. Wordlessly, Jazz struggled against her ectoplasmic bonds as furiously as she could. The voices she heard moments before sounded as if they were getting closer.  
'Oh thank heavens...' she thought, as two demolition men walked in.  
"What the hell? What's this kid doing here?" said the first. The second shrugged.  
"She's my special guest, and she isn't going anywhere." came Dan's voice, as he appeared from out of nowhere and proceeded to gut both demolition men without much effort at all. With both of them dead, Dan turned to Jazz and said, "Yeah, that's right. You ARE screwed."

"Who was calling for me?" Danny asked, as he, Jenny, Sam, Tucker, Yusuke, Mac, and Bloo raced along the streets of southern Amity Park.  
"I don't know, but he had a deep voice." Jenny said.  
"That narrows it down." Sam said sarcastically.  
"C'mon, pick up the pace, people! My grandma could run faster than you lightweights!" Yusuke shouted, already a mile ahead of everyone else.  
"Why would this guy bring Jazz here?" Mac asked.  
"Maybe because they're CONDEMNED buildings, set to be leveled in less than an hour!" Yusuke called back, getting looks of surprise from everyone as they finally caught up to him.  
"What?" he shouted.  
"How did you know that?" Tucker asked, his eyes wide.  
"Uh...I watch the news?" Yusuke said, rolling his eyes.  
"You watch something that ISN'T porn-related?" Danny asked, in complete and utter shock.  
"You got a problem with it?" Yusuke said, his eyes narrowing comically, as he flipped Danny off.  
"Can we NOT fight right now?" Sam growled. "We have less than an hour to find Jazz."  
"Thus the basis for my whole 'pick up the pace' comment a minute ag-o-o-o!" Yusuke said, but stretched out "go" as he slipped and fell on the road they were racing across, as it was solid ice.  
"OW, DAMMIT!"  
"Just a suggestion, maybe you shouldn't swear in front of impressionable children." Wanda suggested.  
"Who're you talking about? Jimmy, Timmy, and Mac are old enough to know that swearing's bad." Yusuke said, climbing to his feet.  
"I meant Cosmo." Wanda said dully.  
As they talked about him, Cosmo had a thought bubble appear above his head. Inside of said bubble was an ear of corn.  
"Mmm...corn..." Cosmo said, before reaching up toward the thought bubble. Not being able to grab the imaginary corn, Cosmo shouted "DAMMIT!"  
"See?" Wanda asked, her eyes narrow.  
"Oh." was Yusuke's response, as they resumed racing along the icy roads. As they continued, Danny began to notice that the sky was oddly swirling above the row of condemned buildings they were quickly approaching. Something about it seemed...familiar to him, but he couldn't quite place his finger on what, or who, it reminded him of, until the very being whose name was on the tip on his tongue appeared above them.  
"Long time no see...Danny." Dan said, with an evil grin.  
"You! Evil me!" Danny said, angrily. His choice of words, however, caused Dan to groan and slap his own face with his right hand.  
"UGH. The name's Dan! DAN!" Dan shouted angrily.  
"Sorry, it's just...you never told me you changed i-" Danny started, but cut himself off. "Why am I apologizing to you?"  
"That's the guy who called!" Jenny said.  
"Alright, 'Dan', where's Jazz?" Danny shouted.  
"Duh, where do you think? She's in one of these buildings. She'll be blown to bits if someone doesn't save her in the next half-hour." Dan said. When no one responded to his statement, he added "That would be you would-be heroes. I'm giving you a chance to find her...without any interference from me. But, search quickly. The clock is ticking. She now has twenty-nine minutes left. Hurry." he said, smirking as the Spirit Detective gang raced across the street, beginning to search frantically.

Ten minutes had passed, and still, Jazz didn't feel her ectoplasmic bonds loosen even the slightest bit. She looked down, in sadness, as she thought of her new friend and what he must be doing. Her thoughts turned to her family, and what might happen if she were to die.  
'I'm...I'm going to die here. Only sixteen...I never even got to find the man I wanted to be with.' Jazz thought sadly, before her thoughts returned to the raven-haired Spirit Detective who she had just parted ways with, supposedly for eternity, the day before. A surprising line of thought crossed her mind. She envisioned being held in his powerful arms, arms that shaped the destiny of everyone around him. The thought brought warmth to her heart, despite the grim predicament she was in. It was then and there that she realized something.  
'...That's not true, and I've known it for a while now...I'm in love with Ash Ketchum...' she thought. 'I only wish I could see him again...'  
Her eyes then grew determined. 'I WILL see him again. Danny will save me. He's NEVER let us down before...'

"Jenny, can your scanners pick up on Jazz?" Danny shouted to Jenny as they tore through building after building, on a desperate, possibly even futile search.  
"Yeah, they should be able to!" Jenny called back from the bottom floor of the building they were in. Her pigtails turned into miniature satellites, as she tried to trace Jazz. However, all she could see on her scanners was static.  
"What the hell?" Jenny said, in shock.  
"I forgot to mention..." came Dan's voice. "No tracking devices. I set up an invisible field that blocks all tracking beacons and such. You play my game, you follow my rules. Capice?" he said.  
"Dammit..." Danny said.  
"You'd better hurry, and hurry fast, you have four minutes." Dan said, as he appeared inside with Danny and Jenny.  
"Damn, gonna have to trust my instinct on this one..." Danny said, to himself.

Jazz wasn't exactly sure of how much time she had left before the life-ending explosion, but she at least knew it was down to the final stretch, or the last five minutes, rather.  
'...He's going to make it...' she told herself mentally. 'But...what if he doesn't?'

"There!" Danny said, pointing, to Dan's surprise, at the very building Jazz was being kept in.  
"How did...?" Dan said, grimacing.  
"Easy. I can just barely make out a pair of loafers from here." Danny said, smriking, before busting through the window next to him and going ghost on the way down, which seemed to erase the wounds he had just suffered.  
"HANG ON JAZZ, I'M COMING!" Danny shouted at the top of his lungs.  
"He'll never make it! There are only fifty seconds left!" Dan said.

'I don't...I don't want to die...' she thought, as a solitary tear rolled down her face and onto the ectoplasm. Amazingly, the ectoplasm vanished from her face.  
"JAZZ!" came Danny's shout for his sister, as she saw him closing in at near-light speed from far away.  
"IN HERE!" she screamed, at the top of her lungs.  
She watched in horror, however, as Dan appeared behind him and shot ectoplasm at him as he landed, binding his feet together and causing him to trip.

"WHAT THE?" Danny shouted.  
"Too bad, so sad." Dan said.  
"YOU SAID YOU'D LET ME FIND HER!" Danny shouted.  
"That's right. Find her. I said NOTHING about letting you SAVE her." Dan said, grinning evilly, as he began the final countdown, as Yusuke, Jenny, Sam, Tucker, Mac, Bloo, Jimmy, Timmy, Cosmo, and Wanda came running up to Danny.  
"Five..."  
"Stop it! She's going to DIE!" Danny shouted, as tears began to well up in his eyes.  
"Four..."  
"She's our SISTER!" Danny tried to reason with Dan, in vain.  
"Three..."  
"Please, let me save her!" Danny pleaded.  
"Two..."  
"NO!" Danny shouted.  
"One!"  
Jazz's scream was heard, right before time seemed to stop, and a deafening explosion sounded out. Danny laid on the ground in a state of perpetual shock, automatically going intangible to evade the debris. Yusuke generated a force field with his Spirit Energy in order to protect not only himself, but the remaining Spirit Detectives as well. The explosion seemed to last forever, but time had stopped for Danny, even after the explosion had ended. He simply stayed there, his eyes fixated on the smoldering rubble that had once housed his previously-living sister.

"No...!" Enma said, looking at the scene that had just unfolded in shock.  
"...She's dead, isn't she?" Ratty asked.  
"...Yes. I'm going to have to break the news to Ash when I can re-establish communication with him." Enma said, somberly.  
Ratty just looked down.  
"...I'm sorry." Enma said, suddenly, to himself, seemingly.

Everyone stood there, speechless. Dan simply began to laugh. "Finally...all the pieces are falling into place. There's no way my future won't come to pass now." he said.  
"Jazz..." Jenny said, before dropping to her knees and letting out a sob for her fallen friend. Yusuke just bowed his head.  
"Danny...?" Sam asked, weakly walking toward him.  
'I...I failed.' Danny thought, as he sat there, his face not showing any emotion. 'I failed Jazz when she needed me the most...and now she's...she's...' he was unable to finish his thought, as he no longer held back the tears he wanted to shed. Letting out several silent sobs, he then bellowed to the sky in anguish.

Author's note:Dustin here. This episode took a while, so I hope you enjoy it. Stay tuned to see how Face of True Evil concludes! Peace.


	33. The Face of True Evil, Part Two

Pokewing Z:Dimension Rifters, Episode 33:The Face of True Evil, Part 2  
A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

Disclaimer's in the first and twenty-fifth episodes. Let's get on with Episode 33!

"Ash, have you noticed what day it is?" Enma asked.  
"Don't tell me it's your birthday. I totally forgot to get a present!" Ash said.  
"No, Ash. It's not my birthday. It's December nineteenth." Enma explained. "A month has passed. The rift should already be open."

"Well well well...back in Amity Park again." the sinister-looking being said. As he emerged from the shadows, his features were revealed. He wore a mostly-white jumpsuit, with black down the middle, and a familiar-looking "D" on the chest area. He had flaming, spiky white hair, and a white goatee. His eyes looked almost human, except for the evil shade of red that were his irises.  
He had a white cape flowing behind him, and skin had a bluish tint to it. He pulled out a picture from his jumpsuit. It was a single picture of Jazz. He smirked looking at it.  
"Time for an unpleasant family reunion, Jazz." he said, before laughing as he turned invisible and flew off.

"You knew it wouldn't last forever." Ash said, smiling sadly.  
"Yeah...I know." Jazz said, her eyes gazing away from the fourteen year old Spirit Detective. In a month, they had all been through so much. Hell, she and Ash had even switched bodies for a few days.  
"Ash..." she said, looking his way sadly.  
"Goodbye, Jazz." Ash said, as he stepped into the Fenton Portal.

"YOU!" Jazz said, as he finished transforming.  
"Yeah, ME. You forgot I could duplicate."  
"Whatever you're plotting, you won't get away with it...uh..." Jazz said, trying to sound brave, and dramatic, but failing due to not knowing exactly what to call him. "...Evil Danny!"  
"Danny is SO ten years ago. I prefer Dan. Dan Phantom." the evil future form of Danny, now known as Dan, said.  
"That was my next guess!" Jazz said, faux-dramatically.  
"I know you're unarmed, Jazz. I'll make this easy for you. START RUNNING." Dan said, opening the door to the Janitor's closet and actually stepping aside.  
Jazz didn't need to be told again. Like a rocket, she shot toward the door, running as fast as her legs would take her. Unfortunately for her, that speed was nowhere near fast enough to escape Dan, as he shot her ankles, causing them to be bound in the very ectoplasmic substance he had fired. With her feet bound, Jazz fell toward the floor, slamming her nose against the ground very hard. As she raised her head groggily, blood trickled from her nose.  
"Whoops! Too slow!" Dan said, laughing, as he floated over to her, bent down, and forced her hands behind her back. He then bound her hands with ectoplasm. Watching her struggle futily, he picked her up and carried her over his shoulder as he flew out of the school with his hostage in tow.

"Got it! Hang on, Jazz!" Ash called, right before his Spirit Energy erupted into a blue orb, completely hiding him from sight.  
"Oh God..." Enma said. "Ash, listen up! I was hoping this wasn't going to happen to you for another two years, but you're finally growing them!"  
"Them?" Ash shouted, before an agonized scream burst forth from his throat.  
"The next thirty minutes will be more painful than anything you've ever experienced, but do NOT sink into unconsciousness!"  
Enma explained.  
Ash's only response was another agonized scream.

'I don't...I don't want to die...' she thought, as a solitary tear rolled down her face and onto the ectoplasm. Amazingly, the ectoplasm vanished from her face.  
"JAZZ!" came Danny's shout for his sister, as she saw him closing in at near-light speed from far away.  
"IN HERE!" she screamed, at the top of her lungs.  
She watched in horror, however, as Dan appeared behind him and shot ectoplasm at him as he landed, binding his feet together and causing him to trip.

"NO!" Danny shouted.  
"One!"  
Jazz's scream was heard, right before time seemed to stop, and a deafening explosion sounded out. Danny laid on the ground in a state of perpetual shock, automatically going intangible to evade the debris. Yusuke generated a force field with his Spirit Energy in order to protect not only himself, but the remaining Spirit Detectives as well. The explosion seemed to last forever, but time had stopped for Danny, even after the explosion had ended. He simply stayed there, his eyes fixated on the smoldering rubble that had once housed his previously-living sister.

"No...!" Enma said, looking at the scene that had just unfolded in shock.  
"...She's dead, isn't she?" Ratty asked.  
"...Yes. I'm going to have to break the news to Ash when I can re-establish communication with him." Enma said, somberly.  
Ratty just looked down.  
"...I'm sorry." Enma said, suddenly, to himself, seemingly.

Everyone stood there, speechless. Dan simply began to laugh.  
"Finally...all the pieces are falling into place. There's no way my future won't come to pass now." he said.  
"Jazz..." Jenny said, before dropping to her knees and letting out a sob for her fallen friend. Yusuke just bowed his head.  
"Danny...?" Sam asked, weakly walking toward him.  
'I...I failed.' Danny thought, as he sat there, his face not showing any emotion. 'I failed Jazz when she needed me the most...and now she's...she's...' he was unable to finish his thought, as he no longer held back the tears he wanted to shed. Letting out several silent sobs, he then bellowed to the sky in anguish.

*Small bridge at opening*  
Shot of snow falling.

senaka ni mimi wo pitto tsukete dakishimeta

A back shot of Ash walking through the falling snow, then a front shot of the same thing.

kyoukaisen mitai na karada ga jama da ne  
dokka ichai-sou na no sa

Shot of Mac and Bloo ice skating.

damatte'ru to chigire-sou dakara, konna kimochi

Shot of Misty, with her hair blowing in the wind.

hankei san ME-TORU inai no sekai de motto  
motto hittsuitetai no sa

Shot of Brock doing laundry.

kawaribanko de PEDARU wo koide

Still shot of Wayne.

ojigi no himawari toorikoshite

Closeup shot of Riku, as his head raises and he looks toward the camera.

gungun kaze wo nomikonde, sou tobe-sou jan

Zooming-in shot of Janine, then a still shot of Plasmius.

hajimete kanjita kimi no taion  
dare yori mo tsuyoku naritai

Various shots of the ghosts that constantly terrorize Amity Park.

attakai RIZUMU  
niKO no shinzou ga kuttsuite'ku

Shot of Ember and Desiree, followed by a shot of a shadowy man with wild, long red hair. At the very end of the line, his eyes open as he smirks.

kuchibiru to kuchibiru, me to me to te to te

Shot of Danny smirking as he holds up his left hand in a fist.

kami-sama wa nanimo kinshi nanka shitenai  
aishite'ru

Shot of Yusuke holding out his finger, as though he's going to do the Spirit Gun.

aishite'ru aishite'ru

Shot of Jenny walking forward, the shot zooming in after every other second.

atashi mada koritenai  
otona ja wakan'nai  
kuyashikute setsunakute  
misetakute PANKU shichau  
soppo mite matte'ru kara  
POKKE no mayotte'ru te de

Shot of Jazz staring out over the horizon. She turns around to see her family, and smiles.

hoppe ni furete  
koishite'ru CHIKARA ni mahou wo kakete  
taiyou ga zutto shizumanai you ni

Shot of Enma walking across a bridge. He meets up with Ash, and the two walk off-screen as the title "PokeWing Z:Dimension Rifters" appears, along with the subtitle "Amity Park Hijinks". Fade to black.

.

Guest voices:  
Eric Roberts - Dan Phantom  
Brian Drummond – Ash's "Visitor"

"So...anyone eager to run to their death? Cause I'm thirsty for some blood!" Dan said, smirking.  
"...The only other person who's gonna die today…"Jenny said, almost emotionlessly, as she rose to her feet and started to walk forward. "…is YOU!"  
'Hmm...I can't trace her energy signal.' came Dan's thoughts, as Jenny's walk turned into a furious sprint toward the evil ghost.  
"They always rush to die." Dan said to himself, as he seemed to ignore the furious onslaught that Jenny unleashed on him, as well as her screams of anger, mixed with sadness. Soon, Yusuke charged Dan as well, only to get the same result. But despite that, Yusuke and Jenny kept up their light-speed assault on him.  
"Weaklings." Dan said, once again to himself. "You're all goddamn weaklings!"  
Soon after that, Mac launched Bloo toward Dan.  
"TAKE THIS!" Mac shouted.  
"Eat it, bitch!" Bloo shouted, scoring a direct hit to Dan's chest, but doing nothing to the phantom.  
'Interesting. Urameshi and the little blue blob are S-classes.' Dan thought, before duplicating himself, and blasting the three fighters away.  
"Yusuke, Jenny, Bloo!" Sam shouted.  
"Dammit..." Jimmy said to himself. "If only I could invent a way to power him down..."  
"You're wasting your lives for someone who isn't coming back. She was a double F minus class, weaker than a normal human being. How she was even walking or talking is beyond me." Dan mentioned, before hearing a whistle coming from above.  
"What in the hell…?" Dan asked, looking up, but seeing nothing. "Where'd that come from?"  
"RIGHT HERE, ASSHOLE!" came a furious shout from above, and, not even a second later, the owner of the voice that Dan had heard had planted a strong jump kick to Dan's jaw, sending him flying backward. "I heard you weren't playing nice with my friends." The voice's owner commented, and as the group of friends looked up, they saw who the voice belonged to…  
"...ASH?" Jenny asked, in shock, as she recovered from Dan's attack.  
Indeed, it was Ash, only...there were now two white, feathery wings on his back. Jazz was in his arms, alive and well, having been rescued as the explosion occurred. Ash glared over at Dan Phantom as he gently set Jazz down on the ground.  
"Wait right here, okay? I'm gonna take care of this creep." Ash said, turning around and facing Dan, whose duplicates had flown over to him to check on him. He quickly dispatched all the duplicates with a silent Shotgun. Danny awoke from his state of shock and anguish as he looked up involuntarily and saw his sister, alive and well.  
"J...Jazz?" Danny asked, almost afraid to do so, fearing he was starting to hallucinate.  
"Hi Danny." Jazz casually remarked.  
"Am I dead?" Danny asked.  
"No, silly. Ash saved my life." Jazz explained.  
"Ash? But he's..." Danny trailed off. Everyone simultaneously finished for him.  
"Over there." they all said, pointing at Ash.  
"But...what's he doing with WINGS?" Danny asked.  
"Good question." everyone answered, again, simultaneously.  
"I forgot to mention..." Ash explained. "I kinda found the last Kamoa while I was heading back here. Turns out I'M the last one. Funny how that works out, huh?" he asked.  
"A what?" Dan asked, puzzled by the news of Ash's heritage.  
"A Kamoa. The last one." Ash said.  
"Well, isn't that awesome? I get to eliminate the last surviving member of a race today." Dan grinned evilly. "This day is getting better and better."  
"Dream on. I wasn't even trying when I kicked you just now. I was just stretching my leg, there." Ash said.  
"Bullshit. So, mind telling me how you saved Jazz without my noticing?" Dan asked.  
"Gladly. I'll start from when my wings grew." Ash said.

(In flashback.)  
Ash let out an earsplitting scream of agony, as something within him made him feel as if he were being torn apart from the inside.  
"Ash, don't pass out, no matter how intense your pain gets!" Enma shouted.  
"ENMA, YOU BASTARD! I'M GONNA RIP YOUR ARMS OUTTA THEIR SOCKETS WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU AGAIN!" Ash shouted angrily, apparently only to himself, though. He could feel his flesh being ripped in the general area where his shoulder blades were.  
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?" he shouted, at the top of his lungs, as he felt extreme agony. He rolled around in the "air", screaming and thrashing about. After a half hour of this, two bloody, feathery wings erupted from his shoulder blades, causing him to scream as his pupils actually vanished for a second. His body still seething with pain, he let out little whimpers as he shook violently.  
"What the...?" he said, in his normal tone. He reached behind him and felt his bloody wings for the very first time.  
"WHOA! WINGS? WHAT THE FUCK?" he shouted.  
"I'm sorry for not telling you before this happened." Enma said.  
"Okay, start talking, NOW." Ash said.  
"I knew all along about this. The last Kamoa I told you to search for is, in fact...you." Enma said, causing Ash's eyes to widen tremendously.  
"What? Wait, how can I be the last Kamoa if Mom's still alive?" Ash said.  
"Because your mother is fully human. It was your father who was a Kamoa." Enma explained.  
"Wait...so I'm a Halfling?" Ash asked, in total shock.  
"Yes." Enma said.  
"That explains a lot, actually...I wondered why I never looked like my dad...he's not my real dad." Ash said, still absorbing the bit of information Enma had given him.  
"I hate to interrupt your curiosity to learn the full truth about yourself, but if you don't hurry..." Enma said.  
"Yeah, I know...Jazz is gonna bite it. I'll never let that happen." Ash said, before hopping into the portal. As he emerged, Enma provided Ash with a fast route to Jazz's location. Since he wasn't used to using his wings yet, he clumsily landed on the ground, before taking off at an unbelievable speed. He raced across Amity Park, not going unnoticed by people he passed in a blur, but at the speed he was going, no one could see him well enough to know who he was. About a minute later, he arrived at the location Enma had shown him on his wrist communicator. He sped across, unnoticed by the other Detectives or Dan as he raced into the building to see Jazz sitting there, bound to an old wooden chair with ectoplasm. She let out an earsplitting scream, as Dan said "1!"  
"OH SHIT!" Ash said, rushing over to the chair and slashing through Jazz's bonds immediately. Jazz gave him a smile as he scooped her up into his arms, but it was too late, as they felt the building rumble and shake, as the explosion began to rip through it.  
'Damn it! Did I come back for nothing?' Ash thought, squeezing his eyelids shut. 'I can't let this happen! I WON'T let this happen!' As soon as he finished thinking, something truly odd had happened: time had seemed to stop around him. Through an adjacent door, he could see the fiery vestiges of the explosion, but as far as he could tell, it wasn't moving at all. Not thinking once at that point to question what happened, he flapped his new wings and sped through the roof of the collapsing building, a barrier of Spirit Energy surrounding him and Jazz as he did so. No sooner than he'd cleared his calculated radius than time resumed, the explosion reaching its conclusion and destroying the building.  
'What…what the hell just happened?' he thought to himself, looking down at Jazz, whose eyes seemed to reflect that very same question.  
(End flashback.)

"And then…well, you know the rest." Ash said, smirking. "How's your face, by the way?"  
"That magnificent son of a bitch..." Yusuke said, in shock. "He moved way too fast for any of us to read him."  
"Wonderful job, Ash!" Enma's voice came from the communicator. "Even I thought you were too late!"  
"Thanks. Can you call back in a few, though, Enma? I'm a little busy with something." Ash said, shutting off the communicator, unstrapping it from his left hand, and tossing it to Danny, who barely caught it.  
"Hold on to that for me, in case that pain in the ass calls back." Ash said, with a smirk.  
"Sure thing." Danny said, still a little confused from the most recent events from the day.  
"You know what, Jazz? Get back a little further. Things are gonna get a little messy." Ash said, cracking his knuckles.  
"O...okay. Be careful, Ash. This guy's very dangerous." Jazz warned, backing away as Ash had told her to.  
"I'm no kitten." Ash said, looking cockily toward Dan, who returned his cocky glance with a smug grin.  
"So you're the infamous Ash Ketchum." Dan said, the grin not leaving his face.  
"Now that's not nice. You know my name, and I have no idea what yours is...though that emblem on your chest is giving me a pretty good idea." Ash said, scratching his head for the heck of it.  
"Oh, really?" Dan asked.  
"Well, yeah, considering Danny has the same emblem on his chest, I can only assume you're what he grows into. So, Evil Future Danny, wanna go a few rounds with a Kamoa?" Ash smirked once more.  
"For the last time, my name is..." Dan started, but Ash cut him off.  
"Let me guess...'Dan', right?" Ash asked, with a smirk. Dan's initial response was an angry glare at Ash, before he said "My, aren't we the smart one. Of course, brains isn't enough to defeat me. Unless you found the Spirit Stone, you don't stand a chance."  
"I didn't." Ash said, truthfully, but not looking scared in the least.  
"Are you saying you would give up the world for your friends?" Dan asked.  
Ash looked ahead solemnly for a second and said "My friends ARE my world. Anyone who threatens them is getting a fistful of Spirit Gun. I'm gonna do the same thing to you that I did to Vexus back in Jenny's dimension, except complete with blood. Or ectoplasm. Or maybe both. Yeah, that'd be cool. Point is, you're five seconds away from an ass-kicking."  
As he finished speaking. He clenched both fists together and let out a short yell that lasted for about three seconds. As the yell ended, Dan's eyes widened noticeably.  
'He jumped to S plus class!' Dan thought, shocked at Ash's enormous increase in Spirit Energy.  
"What's wrong, getting cold feet?" Ash asked, smirking. "I thought you were unstoppable since I didn't have the Spirit Stone!"  
"Of course I am. I'm about to prove it to you now." Dan said, regaining his composure.  
"Yeah, right. You're just like every other villain I've fought up until now: full of shit!" Ash said, comically wiping under his nose with his right index finger. But before he could get back into a serious state, Dan was in front of him, with an evil grin. Dan raised his fist and slammed it as hard as he could into Ash's face, which sent the young Spirit Detective sailing back.  
"Ash!" Jazz cried, before Danny launched an ectoplasmic energy bolt at Dan, who simply shrugged it off.  
"Danny, Danny, Danny...you should know by now that I'm far too powerful to be wasted by a lowly B-class such as yourself." Dan said, before duplicating himself. The four Dans then shot out a familiar ectoplasmic energy chain, which raced toward everyone but Ash. At the last second, though, Danny shoved Jazz out of the way.  
"Go check on Ash!" Danny shouted, as he and the other members of the Spirit Detective Team were chained together, and pulled up to the top of a building, where they were then lashed to the support beams of an old water tower.  
"I don't want any interference in my fight." the four Dans said, simultaneously, before shooting ectoplasm over the collective mouths of the Spirit Detective gang. The four Dans then merged back into one.  
"Guys!" Jazz shouted.  
"Don't worry, you'll be joining them in a second." Dan said, preparing to fire a new chain at Jazz. However, he never managed to shoot her with it, as Ash's foot quickly connected with his jaw.  
"You caught me off-guard there, but let me personally assure you, it ain't happenin' again." Ash said, wiping off some blood that had begun to trickle from his nose. Dan just stared on for a second, before laughing.  
"I have to hand it to you, anyone aside from the last… whatever the hell you are… probably would have had their skull shattered with that punch." Dan said.  
"Ash'd be way too thick-headed for that punch to do any real damage even if he weren't this...uh...whatever he is." Jazz said.  
"Damn right!" Ash said, with a huge grin, and a laugh, before his expression turned serious again. "But seriously, time to stop sand-baggin'. Let's do this up right." he said.  
"Indeed." Dan said, as the two stared each other down.

"My money's on Ash." Enma said. "Fifty bucks."  
"Well, I ain't bettin' on that asshole Dan!" Ratty said.  
"I'll give you fifty bucks TO bet on him." Riku said, in his traditional outfit currently.  
"No freakin' way! I'd be robbed blind!" Ratty shouted.  
"I'M not betting against Ash." Riku said, his eyes narrowed to comical slits.  
"Hmm...let's ask Botan, she'll do it!" they said simultaneously.  
"NOT HAPPENING." Botan's voice rang throughout the palace from her own room.  
"Hmm..I could ask Mother." Riku said.  
"Yeah, let's ask Nyamo!" Enma and Ratty said together.  
"Nope." Nyamo said, walking by.  
"But Mo-o-m!" Riku whined.  
"Don't you 'Mo-o-m!' me, young man. Ash has already saved our hides quite a few times. I'm betting DOUBLE on him!" Nyamo said, holding up an American one-hundred dollar bill.  
"Sounds like we got a bettin' lady on our hands." Enma said, with a smirk.  
"But we still got no takers on this Dan fuckhead." Ratty said.  
"Hey, what'cha all doing?" Osaka asked, as she walked into the room.  
"Let's ask Osaka!" the four of them said.  
"Hey, Ayumu. Can you bet money on this evil phantom guy?" Enma asked.  
"Why would I bet on the bad guy?" Osaka asked, confused.  
"Cause we all bet on Ash." the four of them said in unison.  
"Why'd ya do that?" Osaka asked.  
"Safest bet." they all answered, again, in perfect unison.  
"Alright...put me down for all the money in my hand!" Osaka said triumphantly, holding up her hand.  
"Alright! We're gonna strike it rich!" Enma said.  
"Just how much money do you have in your hand, Osaka dear?" Nyamo asked.  
"A whopping ONE DOLLAR!" Osaka said, once again triumphantly, causing the four who were betting on Ash to have large sweat drops on the back of their heads.

The two fighters took off like rockets toward each other. As they connected, lights began to flash across the road, signifying that they were moving and attacking each other. The now-restrained Spirit Detective gang wordlessly spectated the fight from the top of the building they had been placed on.  
"Pretty good..." Dan said, taking a deep breath after they stopped long enough for both of them to regain their bearings.  
"Thanks. You're not bad yourself. Definitely tougher than Wayne." Ash said, also taking a deep breath, before cracking his knuckles again.  
"Despite your level of skill, though, it's not enough to beat me." Dan said, as he disappeared again, much to Ash's shock, then reappeared, kicking Ash in the stomach and knocking the wind out of him. Ash struggled to take in as much air as he could as he lay on the ground.  
"C'mon, is that the best you got...?" Ash asked, semi-weakly, before firing off a point-blank Spirit Gun at Dan, which sent him flying.  
Before Dan could recuperate, Ash was running alongside his sprawling form. He turned around to face Dan, then fiercely kicked him in the back of the head, sending him flying back in the other direction. He reappeared beside Dan once again, and fired another Spirit Gun, knocking him toward the building the gang stood atop of. As Dan slammed into the building, a dust cloud formed from his point of impact.  
"Alright, Ash! You nailed him!" Jazz cheered, as she started to run toward him.  
"GET DOWN!" Ash shouted at the top of his lungs, suddenly, as two large, red ectoplasmic energy bolts came flying from the dust  
cloud. Jazz obeyed Ash's command, and ducked immediately, barely avoiding the one flying in her direction. Ash, worried about Jazz's safety, completely forgot to do the same, and ended up getting blasted fifty feet away by the blast.  
"Ash!" Jazz cried out to the hapless Spirit Detective.  
"I grow tired of this." Dan said, emerging from the dust cloud. Suddenly, a red force field formed around Danny.  
"Goodbye." Dan said, blasting away the front support beams for the water tower. The tower began to fall toward the Spirit Detective gang, seemingly in slow motion. None of them, however, could run away or even scream for help. Luckily for them, they didn't need to do either, as Ash flew up to the roof and tilted the water tower back into an upright position, then pushed it in the opposite direction, sending it into the next street, south of where they were currently.  
"God, sure hope no one's drivin' down that street." Ash said.

Meanwhile, Lancer was humming a Christmas-y tune as he drove through the street directly south of where Ash and Dan were fighting. He looked up, noticing the giant, descending water tower, and his eyes widened tremendously.  
"GREAT GATSBY!" he shouted, quickly unlocking his door and evacuating his car. He was just in time, as well, The very second after he dived out of his still-moving car, the tower dropped on it, crushing it.  
"MY CAR!" Lancer shouted. Suddenly, the water tower split open, releasing a torrent of water, which flooded toward Lancer, and soaked him to the bone.  
"MY CLOTHES!" Lancer shouted, before shivering violently.  
"M-m-my w-w-w-word-d-d-d-d!" Lancer said, feeling like he was going to become a human popsicle in a matter of seconds.

"Hold on guys, I'll have ya all free in a second!" Ash said, the Rift Sword appearing in his right hand. He slashed the ectoplasm binding the gang together, and it vanished. Amazingly, the ectoplasm that had been gagging them vanished as well. The red shield around Danny was also destroyed.  
"Thanks, Ash." Jenny said.  
"Don't thank me yet, the bad guy's still kickin'. Quite hard, I might add." Ash said.  
"Then kick back, damn it!" Tucker said.  
"You better believe I will!" Ash said, smirking as he rose to the sky, then dive-bombed Dan, who had watched what had just unfolded, becoming infuriated with Ash.  
"You know, maybe you should have taken advantage of the moment I left Jazz alone, but I can see you're not all that bright. Actually, I'm not surprised. You ARE Danny, after all. Just older." Ash said.  
"Don't lump me in with that callous asshole!" Danny shouted angrily, from the rooftop.  
"I didn't do it because I don't need to. Not yet. I've decided to start the string of tragedies that ends with me coming into existence with you. Once you're dead, nothing will stop my eventual 'birth'." Dan said.  
"Hey Danny...you're a real asshole in the future, y'know that?" Ash called up to Danny, who responded comically. His head enlarged to about three times its normal size, his pupils and irises vanished, and his teeth all became sharp and pointy.  
"STOP COMPARING ME TO HIM, DAMMIT!" he shouted.  
"Just kidding." Ash said, with a sly smirk.  
'Hmm...his power might be S plus, but he's not fully able to utilize that just yet.' Dan thought.  
Without warning, Ash launched forward at Dan, planting his left foot in the evil phantom's abdomen. He followed that kick with one to the face, using his right foot this time. Seconds later, lights were flashing across the road once more, indicating that both fighters were moving extremely fast and kicking each other into submission, or at least trying to.

"Whoa, I can barely see what they're doing!" Tucker said, in awe.  
"Here, try these goggles. They should slow down the 'frame-rate', so to speak, and give you a much clearer view of the action." Jimmy said, handing Tucker a pair of high-tech goggles.  
"Why can't I have a pair of high-tech goggles like that?" Timmy asked, before Cosmo and Wanda simultaneously cleared their throats.  
"Ohhh..." Timmy trailed off, before whispering his wish. Covertly, a pair of goggles matching the ones Tucker was currently wearing appeared in his hands.  
"Man, even in slow-mo, these two are quick as hell!" Tucker commented.  
"Ash better know what the hell he's doing with his new powers." Yusuke said.  
"Very true." Jenny added.  
"Come on, you're worrying too much. Ash hasn't technically failed yet, right?" Sam asked, receiving looks from Yusuke and Jenny.  
"I mean, he hasn't completely screwed up, right?" she added.  
"I guess not." both Jenny and Yusuke said.

"KICK HIS ASS, ASH! I HAVE FIFTY BUCKS RIDING ON THIS!" Enma shouted.  
"ME TOO!" Ratty added.  
"And me." Riku said, not shouting.  
"I have a hundred riding on you, Ash! Don't lose!" Nyamo said.  
"C'mon Ash...couldja just pretend to give up so I can get this money?" Osaka thought aloud.

Suddenly, Ash got knocked back by a kick from Dan to his face. As blood ran freely from his nose, he thought 'What the hell? He's totally focused now! What's up with that?'  
As he flew back, however, Ash turned around and aimed his Spirit Gun at the sky, so as to ground himself properly.  
"Ash, look out!" Jazz shouted up to him, but her warning came too late, as Ash got nailed in the back by a large ectoplasmic energy bolt, sending him crashing into a far-off building. a gigantic dust cloud formed, and Dan landed behind Jazz, who started to run toward Ash, calling his name frantically. Dan then appeared in front of Jazz, causing her to scream.  
"I'm afraid you're wasting your time. His energy's dropping, there's no way he's going to live through this." Dan said. "Now...prepare to die, sister dear." he added, grabbing Jazz by her shirt and hefting her up.  
"Jazz!" Danny called down to his sister.  
Before anyone else could call for Jazz, though, those who were spiritually aware could feel a massive power emanating from the building that Ash crashed into. A very cold, sinister voice rang out from the building.  
"Put. Her. DOWN." the voice said, as a silhouette appeared in the dust cloud.  
Suddenly, a storm started up, complete with crashing thunder and flashing lightning. The figure walked forward, as an ominous air began to stir. As the dust cleared, the figure was revealed to be Ash, only something was...different...about him. Jazz pointed it out verbally.  
"Blue eyes?" she said, in shock, as this blue-eyed Ash walked forward.

"What the hell's goin' on there?" Ratty cried in shock.  
"Why does Ketchum have blue eyes now?" Riku looked at Enma, who seemd to whisper something. Riku could barely make out the word he whispered…  
"…Sardius?"

Ash walked forward slowly, his blue eyes throwing an icy glare at Dan.  
"I SAID put her down." Ash said, in the same sinister-sounding voice.  
Dan reluctantly did as he was told, but not out of fear.  
"Looks like you've become little more than a mad dog, Ash Ketchum." Dan asked.  
"You're one to talk, Mr. Kill My Friends and Loved Ones." Ash said, walking forward. "But I'm afraid you're addressing the wrong person. Ash Ketchum isn't here right now."  
"Oh, really? Then who am I speaking to?" Dan asked.  
"I don't tell my name to people who are about to die." the being within Ash said, right before appearing in front of Dan and spinning him, sending him flying into the building he had just emerged from. Not even a second later, he was on top of Dan, smashing his fist into the evil ghost's face a countless number of times. He then slammed his fist into Dan's abdomen, not only causing Dan to vomit blood, but causing the floor underneath them to break as well. Before Dan could do anything to recover, though, Ash pinned him against the wall and began to violently slam the phantom's head against the wall. After about fifty slams, Ash tossed the now-extremely bloody Dan out of the building, sending him flying fast with a powerful kick. Dan saw that he was heading straight for Jazz, and only realized it by hearing her scream. Was it because he was about to hit her, or because Ash had emerged from the building and was racing toward her and Dan with an extremely malicious look on his face? Regardless of which, he braced himself as best as he could, to no avail. Ash appeared in front of him, and swung him around once again, though he wasn't intending to let go at this point. He simply kept swinging the phantom around, and around, and around, until finally, he felt he had swung him enough, and he threw Dan a very impressive distance away.  
"Enough of this." Ash's "visitor" said suddenly. "I grow tired of you. You're far too weak to be any sort of threat to my existence."  
He then raised his right index finger and gave a small, evil grin as he braced his right hand with his left.

"He's gonna kill him!" Tucker said.  
"As much as I'd like to say 'good', he's almost acting like he's gonna turn around and start tearing US limb from limb!"  
"C'mon, he's just giving Dan his just desserts." Yusuke said. "Besides, this isn't the first time he's ever killed a ghost."  
"Ember was an accidental death, though." Danny said. "There's absolutely NOTHING accidental about this."  
"Desiree wasn't accidental, though." Yusuke retorted.  
"True, but again, Ash didn't act like he was gonna turn around and kill US as well back then!"

"Do you feel that, Motoko?" Wayne asked, his eyes wide.  
"Yes, Master. There's an enormous concentration of Spirit Energy in southern Amity Park." Motoko said.  
"Whatever it is, it's hell-bent on destruction. It seems to be even stronger than I..." Wayne said, in shock.  
'What the hell's going on out there?' Wayne thought.

Ash stood there for a few seconds, as his Spirit Gun began to charge. As he did, however, his original personality began to surface.  
'Hey, what the hell's going on here?' Ash shouted mentally.  
'Oh great, you're awake.' came the voice of Ash's visitor.  
'What's going on? Why can't I move my body?' Ash said.  
'Because I'm in control.' the voice responded.  
'Give my body back, asshole!' Ash demanded.  
'Just shut up and enjoy the end of Dan Phantom's life.' the voice said angrily.  
'Oh no you don't! This is MY BODY!' Ash shouted.

"Why hasn't he fired his Spirit Gun yet?" Enma wondered out loud.  
"This is actually kinda freaky...what the hell's going on with Ash? I've never seen him kick ass so brutally before." Ratty said.  
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but this Ash is...scary, to an extent." Riku said.  
"It's because that ISN'T Ash. I mean, it IS Ash, but NOT the Ash we know. Understand?" Enma said.

'Cut it out! GET OUTTA MY BODY!' Ash shouted.  
'No, this is OUR body, Ash. We are one.' the voice responded, in an even more sinister tone.  
'Oh no we aren't!' Ash said, angrily.  
"We are one." the voice said out loud, in front of everyone.  
"Oh no we aren't!" Ash repeated, again, out loud. "Don't do it!"  
"What the hell?" Yusuke said, shocked.  
"He's talking to himself?" Danny said.  
"No, there's someone else inside of him!" Yusuke said, his eyes as wide as they could humanly go.  
'Ash...' Jazz thought, as she watched him, horrified at the struggle which had just begun.  
"No, stop it! You're going to kill him!" Ash shouted at himself.  
"It's what you want, right? To kill the 'bastard', as you put it, that tried to kill Jasmine." the voice said.  
"Not like this, not when I can't even tell if I'm the one who's doing it!" Ash said, in an attempt to reason with the voice.  
"Too bad." the voice responded, as Ash seemed to fade again. He looked at the still airborne form of Dan Phantom, who still had yet to recover from the beating he took, and without another moment's hesitation, he fired the Spirit Gun he had been charging.  
"Farewell, Dan Phantom." the voice said, before fading. Seconds later, Ash's eyes returned to normal, and he regained his senses. He gasped in horror as he saw the gigantic bullet heading for Dan at breakneck speed.  
"MOVE IT, NUMBNUTS!" Ash shouted at the top of his lungs, causing everyone to gasp in shock.  
It all seemed to play out in slow motion. First, Dan's one good eye opened(As the other was swollen shut after the series of vicious beatings Ash had given him.), then he looked down toward Ash. Finally, he let out a weak laugh as time sped back up and the bullet connected with him, sending him downward in a shower of ectoplasm. Ash stood there for a few minutes, awestruck at what had just transpired.  
"You god damn moron..." Ash said, as he ran across the street, over to Dan's still-breathing form.  
"He's still alive..." he added, turning to Jazz, who had started running over toward him. When she got there, she gasped in shock. Both of Dan's legs were now gone, as well as his left arm. Ectoplasm was rapidly draining from his body.  
"You fucking moron! I told you to move it!" Ash said, angrily.  
"You don't get it, do you…?" Dan let out a weak laugh once more. "I realized it the second…the second you started that huge assault on me... I don't have to do a damn thing…"  
"What…?" Ash's eyes widened.  
"You heard me…" Dan gasped for a second. "Defeating me solved nothing…you've essentially BECOME me…" he started to cough.  
"Shut up. I'm NOTHING like you. I'd never kill my friends and family." Ash growled.  
"YOU wouldn't… but can you say the same thing for whoever's sharing that body with you…?"  
"…" Ash remained silent for a few seconds before speaking up. "I won't let it… I won't let it destroy all that I love."  
"You damn fool…" Dan rasped. "You can't keep it from doing that any more than you could keep it from killing me… or have you already forgotten the events that just happened three minutes ago…?"  
"…" Again, Ash remained silent, and once again, he spoke up. "I said SHUT UP. Your life's already coming to a quick end. Would you like to make it quicker?" As he finished speaking, the Rift Sword materialized in his right hand.  
"Like you said, it doesn't matter…I'm dying anyway. However, I'll leave you with a warning… It's only a matter of time, boy…whoever that is inside of you…has an insatiable appetite for battle…" Dan let out another weak laugh. "It's only a matter of time before he raises that sword of yours against old friends…"  
"I won't let that happen! I'll kill myself first!"  
"So predictable…I knew you'd answer like that. My time grows short now…I'll be watching you from Hell, boy. Don't…don't disappoint me…" And with that, Dan Phantom breathed his last, his flaming hair slowly fading away. As he died, a strange portal opened behind him and seemed to suck Dan's corpse in, swallowing it whole.  
"What the hell was that…?" Bloo asked, his eyes wide.  
"Clockwork must have brought him back to the future." Danny explained.  
"Who?" Yusuke asked.  
"Clockwork. He has the power to control time."  
"Power to control time...do I have that gift as well?" Ash muttered to himself.  
"What was that, Ash?" Jazz asked.  
"When we were in the building, time stopped around us. If it hadn't, I wouldn't have gotten us out of there alive." Ash said. "Did I do that…or was that this Clockwork dude?"  
"You mean to tell me you might have the ability to STOP TIME?" Danny's eyes widened almost comically. "Cause if that's the case, you'd better not use it to get some extra sleep in the morning!"  
"Even if it was, I don't know how to use it, Danny. It just…happened." Ash said, his voice kind of fading as he explained.  
"So..." Jenny trailed off.  
"What about the Spirit Stone?" Mac asked.  
"I couldn't go through with it. Even if Enma hadn't told me that Jazz was in mortal danger, I would have come back." Ash said.  
"Wait...you came back for me?" Jazz asked, slightly shocked.  
"You and our friends." Ash said.  
"Ash..." she said, her voice cracking again, before she wrapped her arms tightly around him as she started to cry. "I was so afraid I'd never see you again! You had me...I mean, us, worried sick!"  
"Sorry to worry you, Jazz." Ash said, closing his eyes as he smiled warmly and returned the hug. As he opened his eyes, he saw sly smirks on the faces of Mac, Yusuke, Danny, Tucker, Sam, and Jenny.  
"...What?" he asked, looking a bit confused. "Can't I hug her without you guys thinking I'm in love with her?"  
"Nope." came the collective reply of all six who were smirking.  
Suddenly, a voice came from the building above. It belonged to Timmy.  
"Could someone get us down from here?"

"Whatever that power was, Master...it's gone. There's another power now, though." Motoko said.  
"Hmm...I've felt that energy before…the last Kamoa is here?" Wayne said, his eyes wide.  
"Sir...we still have the opportunity to snatch the Spirit Stone." Motoko said.  
"...Leave it." Wayne said, his expression stern.  
"But…"  
"Are you as stupid as the Nightmares? I said LEAVE IT! We'll get it another time…do you not feel that energy? We'd both be dead if we ran into whatever was giving that off." Wayne growled, while thinking 'This is no good, I have to redouble my training efforts if I want to stay on top of every one of those cheeky Spirit Detective bastards…'

[Fifteen days later...]

As the bell rang for third period, Jazz walked to her locker and opened it, before hearing a rock hit the window behind her. She turned around and looked out the window to find the culprit. She spotted him directly below. It was Ash. Not too far away, Danny, Jenny, Yusuke, Mac, and Bloo were charging toward the Dragon Ghost. Ash simply waved up at Jazz, with a smile. She returned both the wave and the smile, and as he flew off to help his friends, her smile became toothy as her eyes narrowed and she sighed dreamily. The 'camera' then begins to zoom in, to show the inside of her locker. In the back, at the very center, was the picture of Ash that Ash himself had given her, only now the picture had a heart-shaped frame, and there was lipstick just below the ear-to-ear grin in the picture. The 'camera' then begins to close in on Ash's face. As it does, the left eye closes in a wink, right as the 'camera' fades to black.

Author's note: Dustin here. Another Season 2 episode written completely by moi. Stay tuned for even more DR, as well as the first movie, coming soon. Peace.


	34. A Mother's Love

Pokewing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 34: A Mother's Love  
A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke.

* * *

Disclaimer. Episodes 1 and 25. Read. YARGH.

* * *

It was early Tuesday morning at Casper High School, and Ash was late, as usual, for his first period class. Health. The overly-  
butch teacher glowered at him as he entered the classroom.  
"Sorry I'm late." Ash said. Tetslaff simply responded with a growl and pointed her large index finger toward the seat Ash was to sit at.  
"Uh...gotcha." Ash said, taking the aforementioned seat. Unfortunately, it was next to a person he despised. Star, Paulina's "satellite". He grimaced as he glaned over in her direction.  
"What are you looking at, loser?" she asked, angrily.  
"Just the most shallow, superficial person I've ever seen." Ash whispered, smirking.  
"Cut the chitchat, Ketchum!" came the teacher's voice. "Since you and Star are the only ones not paired with anyone, congratulations, you're the proud parents of a sack of flour!"  
"WHAT?!" they shouted simultaneously. "YOU MEAN I HAVE TO WORK WITH HER/HIM?!"  
"Have a happy week!" Tetslaff said with a smirk.

* * *

(Title) A Mother's Love  
(Subtitle) Aren't they precious?  
(Jingle) Soft synthesizer  
(Image)The screen is a photograph. In the middle stands Ash, a huge grin on his face as he gives Skulker(Who is looming over him from the left evilly.) bunny ears. On the right is Jazz, holding a flour sack with a smiley face, looking somewhat freaked out.

* * *

"I can't BELIEVE I got stuck with Star!" Ash grumbled, as he sat down with Jenny and Yusuke for lunch. Seconds later, Danny, Sam, and Tucker joined them.  
"Well, at least you didn't get stuck with Tucker like I did earlier this year..." Sam said.  
"Hey! I was a good father!" Tucker protested.  
"Yeah, until your mom turned the entire 'baby' population except for ours and Danny's into cookies!" Sam countered.  
"Yeah, those poor flour sacks never stood a chance..." Danny said, looking down for a second, before beginning to eat.  
"Ancient history is very nice and all, but Star's the most shallow person I've ever met. I can't do this with her as a partner." Ash said.  
"You can't SERIOUSLY be implying she's more shallow than Paulina, can you?!" Sam asked in disbelief.  
"I can, and I am." Ash said. "Plus, she's blonde. If I ever fall for a blonde, please kill me."  
"That reminds me..." Yusuke said, holding onto his own flour sack. "Jenny, I'll take care of the sack during the weekdays, you can have it on weekends."  
"That's awfully generous, Yusuke." Sam said, with obvious shock in her voice. "Did you get threatened or hit on the head today by chance?" she added.  
"No!" Yusuke replied nastily. "It just so happens that I'm training for eventual fatherhood! I have a wife, you know."  
"That's kinda creepy." Tucker said.  
"Ugh! I live in Japan! The age of marital consent is twelve there!" Yusuke explained.  
"Who knew Yusuke knew such fancy words as 'marital'?" Danny asked.  
"Looks like you WERE listening." came the voice of the only member of their little group that hadn't joined them yet.  
"Piss off, Jazz." Yusuke replied, pouting angrily.  
"Now now, Yusuke. She was complimenting you...I THINK." Ash said, finishing his sentence by looking up, as if to deduce if what he said just then was true or not.  
"Of course YOU'D stand up for her." Yusuke mumbled.  
"What'cha got there, Ash?" Jazz asked, sitting down next to him.  
"Health class project." Ash said. "Gotta take care of this flour sack like it's a real baby. I don't see what everyone's so worked up over it for..."  
"Won't that cut into your 'saving the worlds' time, though?" Jazz asked, her voice showing concern for Ash.  
"Like you wouldn't believe." Ash trailed off, spotting Star across the lunch area.  
"Can you hold my sack here for a sec? I need to go have a word with 'Mommy'." Ash said, as he noticed Star talking to some sleazy-looking football player.  
"Sure thing." Jazz said. Ash then handed the sack down to her and stormed over toward Star. Jazz looked at the flour sack, and, seconds later, her pupils started to swell a bit, as she smiled lovingly down at the flour sack.  
"Uh oh. She's gone nuts." Yusuke said.  
"I'll go get Lilith!" Sam said, thinking of the flour sack she and Tucker had raised during their own week-long class on shared responsibility.  
"'Lilith' is just a flour sack!" Tucker argued. "Besides, you'd get in trouble for skipping school."  
"Not if you covered for me again!" Sam said, smirking.  
"There's no way in hell that's gonna happen!" Tucker said, crossing his arms to try proving his point.  
"Not even for your old pal Benjamin?" Sam asked, grinning slyly.  
"And now it totally WILL happen!" Tucker said, swiping the one hundred dollar bill from Sam and giving a thumbs up while grinning with his eyes closed. Sam just smirked as her eyes shifted toward the 'camera', right before running off to grab her flour sack baby. Ash returned a few minutes later, with a very angry expression on his face.  
"Should have known she'd ditch this project..." Ash said angrily. "Now I gotta watch the stupid flour sack all by myself."  
"Man, that's harsh." Jenny said. "Want me to vaporize her?"  
"No, no, as inhuman as she acts, she's still an innocent. And believe me, it pains me to say that." Ash said, grimacing.  
There was silence between the five teenagers still at the table, until Jazz slowly spoke up.  
"Uh...I could watch Junior for you while you fight ghosts, demons, and other various evil things." Jazz said.  
"No, you've got your own stuff to do. I don't want to burden you with my problems." Ash said, sighing.  
"No really, it's okay. You're my student. I want you to succeed, and you can't do that if you're bogged down with stuff to do." Jazz explained.  
"But you'll-" Ash started to say, but was cut off.  
"I'll be fine." Jazz said. "I've been through this class myself. I got an A+. So I know what I'm doing."  
Ash thought about it for a few minutes, then reluctantly smiled and said "...All right. I really appreciate it, Jazz."  
"Anytime, Ash." she said, with a smile, then she started to rock the flour sack and hum Braham's Lullaby.  
"Did I forget to mention she's nuts?" Yusuke asked, his expression changing to boredom as he looked at his flour sack for a second, right before his pupils swelled a bit, just like Jazz, and he smiled lovingly at his own flour sack.  
"Nuts, eh?" Danny asked. "Then I guess you'd know now, considering you have the same loving/creepy look on your face."  
"SHHH!" Yusuke and Jenny(Whose 'pupils' had also swelled.) hissed, before simultaneously whispering "Junior needs his nap!"  
"Something tells me this is gonna be outright CREEPY..." Ash said to himself.

* * *

"Dressing up like Miss Manson again, Mister Foley?" Lancer asked, as he dragged Tucker, now dressed like Sam(Which included a wig shaped like her hairdo.), down the hallway.  
"Tucker? He's in the bathroom!" Tucker said, disguising his voice(Rather poorly.) to sound like Sam. "I'm Sam! I'm an ultra-recyclo vegetarian goth girl who nobody freaking understands!"  
"Then I guess you won't mind eating this turfwich I've been carrying around since that incident where you changed the menu, now will you, Miss Manson?" Lancer asked, smirking as he held up a slice of bread with grass on it. It also appeared to be slightly moldy.  
"Uh..." Tucker trailed off, looking at the disgusting, moldy sandwich.  
"Of course, it has started to decompose, but then again, mold is organic matter." Lancer said.  
"You're right. It looks delicious. But, uh...I'm saving it for later. I just had a meat p-I mean, a tofu burger!" Tucker said.  
"Look, Mister Foley. You can't pull the wool over my eyes. You may think it possible, but it's not." Lancer said. "Unless you can prove to me beyond a doubt that you're Samantha Manson, you're getting a week of detention!"  
"That's just the kind of processed garbage I expected to come from your mouth, you puppet of society! FIGHT THE POWER!" Tucker said, putting on a t-shirt that said "The Man isn't dragging me down!" on the front.  
"I guess I was wrong, in spite of the hairy legs and the sudden skin color change..." Lancer said, looking shocked. "Of course, this means I'll have to give Mister Foley detention for loitering in the bathroom." he added, with a sly grin.  
"How could I be loitering in the bathroom when I'm right here?!" Tucker exclaimed, then shouted "DAMMIT!" and slapped his face, as Lancer yanked off his wig.  
"I believe you youngsters put it this way, Mister Foley...BUSTED." Lancer said. "And when Miss Manson returns to school, she's busted too." he added, as he continued to drag Tucker down the hall.

* * *

"Jazz, I brought the sack!" Ash called out loudly as he knocked on the front door to his tutor's house. Danny answered the door a few seconds later.  
"Jazz's in the kitchen." Danny pointed in the direction of the kitchen. "What are you planning to do over the weekend?"  
"Eh...not much. Probably just whip Yusuke and Timmy's asses at video games." Ash sighed.  
"Wanna come see Dead Teacher V with Sam, Tucker, and me?" Danny asked casually. "We don't really hang out much outside of fighting ghosts."  
"Eh, why not?" Ash said. "I was thinking of seeing 'Obligatory Space Chapter' anyway. This way I can see it with a bud."  
"Cool. Well, see ya, dude. I'm gonna go meet Sam and Tuck at Nasty Burger." With that, Danny walked out the door, as Ash marched over to the kitchen. "I'm surprised this thing hasn't destroyed my ear yet. It's been relatively quiet." he said, as he came within regular speaking distance of Jazz, who was busy watching the oven.  
"They're pretty easy to take care of, honestly." she smiled. "They're just the cutest things ever, too...yesh they are!" her voice got all cutesy as she took the flour sack and tickled it in the spot where its navel would be if it were a real baby.  
"Okay, WOW. Creepy. SUBJECT CHANGE." Ash said, his eyebrows raised. "What smells pretty damn good?"  
"That'd be the cake I'm baking for Mister Lancer. It's his birthday tomorrow." Jazz said, completely ignoring the cake as she continued to play around with the flour sack as if it were a real child. Ash glanced over at the now-smoking oven. "Uh...Jazz? Cake...oven...burning..." he stammered. "Shhh...William needs a nappy-poo!"  
"Nappy-poo?" Ash asked, his left eyebrow arching. He stared for a minute before continuing. "...William?!"  
"Yeah, it's the name I picked out for our son." Jazz said.  
"Okay... ONE, it's not a baby, it's a flour sack. TWO..." he trailed off, slapping the palm of his hand against his face, "It's not OURS... technically, Star is its 'Mommy', that is, if she'd actually do her fair share of the work. And finally, number THREE... your stove is ON FIRE!" Ash finished up by raising his hands in the air and shouting as he ran uselessly in a circle around the kitchen table. Suddenly, the loud bellowing of Jack Fenton could be heard from downstairs.  
"Ghost fire! GHOST FIRE! **GHOST FIRE**-!" he screamed, charging up the steps and spraying down the stove with a fire extinguisher. Even after the fire had been put out, though, Ash continued to run, screaming as loud as he could while he ran.  
"Never fear, kids! The Fenton Fire Extinguisher has saved the day!" Jack held the nozzle aloft with pride, as one would hold a trophy.  
"Jack, dear..." Maddie said as she poked her head out of the basement lab long enough to comment. "That's just a fire extinguisher."  
"Yeah... but it's a fire extinguisher with the word FENTON on it!" Jack beamed. Seconds later, as Maddie walked into the kitchen proper, Jack noticed the flour sack in Jazz's hands. "What the heck's that, Jazzypants?"  
"That's my baby." she cooed gently as she stroked the general area where its stomach would be, were it an actual baby.  
"Is NOT. It's mine." Ash argued.  
"Hey pal, sperm doesn't entitle you to much. Besides, we've got enough money to keep a case going against you for YEARS if need be!" Jack then looked down at the flour sack. "He's got Grandpa's vacant stare! That's my BOY!"  
"Isn't he the most PRECIOUS thing?!" Maddie cooed as she took it from Jazz for a few seconds and rocked it back and forth.  
"You're all a bunch of freakin' nutcases. It's not precious. It doesn't think or feel. And even if it did, it's not Jazz's son! It's mine! She's helping me watch it!" Ash protested.  
"You can share custody, you know." Jack commented.  
"ARGH!" Ash grunted, walking out.

* * *

Wayne looked out over the skies of Amity Park, as Plasmius materialized next to him.  
"It won't be long now, Plasmius." Wayne said.  
"What I don't get is why a teenager would want to wait to carry his plans out." Plasmius said, shrugging.  
"I'm not your average teen, in case you haven't noticed." Wayne said, his face expressionless.  
"Of course." Plasmius said. "I only have to put up with that bumbling idiot Jack a little longer, then?"  
"Exactly. I'll leave the task of getting rid of him and his annoying son to you, though." Wayne said.  
"And I'll take Maddie at long last. What about Jack's daughter, though?" Plasmius asked. "I don't care what happens either way, personally, but Maddie would be heartbroken..."  
"Feh! Human emotion...don't make me sick. I'll spare her life... she's teaching me long division." Wayne admitted reluctantly, eliciting a snicker from Plasmius. "Oh, go to hell."

* * *

The next morning, Ash walked across the street to Fenton Works, admittedly with some hesitation, dreading getting another lecture about his 'child'.  
"They're fucking crazy..." Ash muttered. He knocked on the front door, and Danny answered it a few minutes later.  
"Hey, how'd your first day as a daddy go?" Danny asked with a grin, receiving Ash's variant of the Mental Taser.  
"I heard you pissed off Mom and Dad." Danny said.  
"Those psychos think 'William' is a real boy." Ash explained.  
"That's kinda the POINT, Ash. You're supposed to treat it LIKE a real boy." Danny griped.  
"Hey, what are you getting on to me for?! I didn't ask for this crap!" Ash countered. "I didn't say 'Yes Ms. Tetslaff, GIVE me a flour sack for me to raise like a child!'"  
"Then use a condom next time." Danny said, half-jokingly, half-scolding.  
"God DAMN it! Am I gonna catch it from all of you morons this week?!"Ash yelled, then continued in a mocking tone. "'No Ash, you have take care of this child even though IT'S NOT REAL!'"  
"Whatever dude..." Danny growled, then walked off angrily. "Forget Dead Teacher V, man." he called back as he stormed off. This time, it was Ash's turn to say "Whatever".

* * *

"Yusuke, hurry up in there! You're gonna be late for school!" Jimmy called, then added "Which means I'M gonna be late for school!"  
"I'll drive you!" Jenny offered. Jimmy's pupils shrank in terror as he remembered the last time Jenny drove him to school...

* * *

*Begin flashback*

"Jenny! Slow down! You're going in excess of two hundred miles per hour!" Jimmy shouted.  
"So?" Jenny shouted back.  
"THE SPEED LIMIT'S FOURTY-FIVE!" Jimmy shouted at the top of his lungs.  
"Speed limits? Speed limits are for punks!" Jenny said, smirking.

*End flashback*

* * *

"Heh, yeah, that was sweet." Jenny said, snickering a bit.  
"Who the hell gave you a license?" Jimmy asked.  
"License? I don't need no stinking license!" Jenny exclaimed.  
"Riiiight. Y'know, I'm just gonna fly to school." Jimmy said, warily.  
"Fine. Don't ask me for any more favors though, Captain Cranium." Jenny said, with a pout.  
Jimmy then ran like the wind, and escaped "Condo Ketchum".  
"Okay, I'm out...hey, where'd the squirt get off to?" Yusuke asked. Jenny just responded with a violent shove, forcing Yusuke back into the bathroom.

* * *

"I called the doctor today." Jazz said to Ash as they walked down the halls of Casper High.  
"Oh? Are ya sick?" Ash asked, sounding genuinely concerned.  
"No, silly. I arranged for William to get his shots!" Jazz explained. "We have so many to cover over the next week..."  
"Gwah?" Ash asked, his jaw open in disbelief. It took him a few seconds to regain his 'composure'. From there, he went on to say "Yeah...I don't think the doctor's going to be too thrilled about giving booster shots to a flour sack."  
"He's not giving them to a flour sack, he's giving them to William." Jazz countered.  
"Yes... the flour sack." Ash's eyes narrowed in frustration.  
"Your point?"  
"You know what? Never mind. I'm going to humor you and go with you to the damn doctor." Ash said, groaning in anger. Seconds later, he heard a loud noise: the passing of gas from the flour sack.  
"William needs a diaper change!" Jazz exclaimed. Ash merely turned his narrowed eyes toward the "camera".

* * *

"Yes...very soon this will all fall into place." Wayne laughed as he overlooked the city of Amity Park.  
"I've heard that before." Plasmius groaned. "Don't you have school?"  
"Who gives a shit about education? I'm so close to finding the Spirit Stone, I can TASTE it!"  
"Does it taste like victory?" Plasmius rolled his eyes.  
"It tastes like SHUT THE HELL UP AND STOP BEING A GODDAMN SMARTASS." Wayne growled.  
"Do you want me to fake enthusiasm for a broken record?" Plasmius asked.  
"Could ya?" Wayne replied, with undeniable sarcasm. "And while you're at it, fetch me a danish! I like the cream cheese best..."  
"Oh, absolutely master! Anything else? Your slippers? A pipe? Maybe the morning paper? Ah..." Plasmius sighed. "You teenagers and your witty banter."  
"Oh, you lonely middle-aged men and your need to try modernizing." Wayne retorted. "When will you realize that I have the upper hand when it comes to strength, speed, masculine beauty, and most of all, banter?!"  
'You keep deceiving yourself, Wayne...' Plasmius thought, holding back from laughter as he thought of the stone hidden back in his castle in Wisconsin.

* * *

As Ash, Jazz, and William entered the doctor's office, said doctor walked up and took the flour sack, causing Ash's jaw to reach record length and width.  
"So...how long has it been since he had his last shot?" the doctor asked.  
"This is his first shot, Doctor Hartman." Jazz said.  
"Am I the only one that realizes he's a flour sack?" Ash commented, receiving no response from Doctor Hartman or Jazz. He stared on as Doctor Hartman actually stuck a needle into William's bottom. This caused the flour sack to start crying.  
"It's okay, sweetie...it'll be over in a minute." Jazz consoled the flour sack. Ash simply stared on, his eye twitching for a few seconds before he ran out of the doctor's office, screaming at the top of his lungs.  
"EVERYONE'S GONE BATSHIT!" he screamed as he bolted for his apartment as fast as his legs would take him.

* * *

A couple of days later, Ash flew across the sky, in hot pursuit of the Box Ghost.  
"FOOLISH BOY, YOU CAN NEVER COMPREHEND THE POWER OF CARDBOARD!" the Box Ghost yelled as he flew away from Ash.  
"Shut up. I've had a rotten week, and you're not helping!" Ash shouted. "Now GET IN THE GODDAMN THERMOS!"  
"ASH!" came Jazz's shout, as Ash noticed he was back in front of Fenton Works again. "Don't use that language in front of the baby!"  
"But..." Ash started.  
"No buts! Go to your room!" Jazz ordered. When Ash gestured to the Box Ghost, she just added "And I mean NOW!" Sulking, Ash dropped to the ground and stomped into the building.  
"...Can it be?! AT LAST! THE BOX GHOST HAS TRIUMPHED! VICTORY IS SW-" the Box Ghost started to chant, but was cut off by Jazz sucking him into the Fenton Thermos she was carrying.

* * *

As school let out the following Monday, Ash turned on his communicator and walked to the side of the building.  
"What's up, Enma?"Ash immediately asked, as soon as Enma's face showed up on the communicator screen.  
"I've been trying to reach you for the last half hour. Where have you been?" Enma looked somewhat preturbed.  
"Sorry. William needed a diaper change."  
"William...? Oh yes, your son..."  
"IT is not my son. IT is a sack of flour." Ash groaned.  
"Anyway, I'm picking up activity from Wayne, Masters, and a third source nearby."  
"Yeah, I sense Wayne for sure. He's somewhere in the northwest." Ash growled. "Maybe we could put an end to this today without getting the stone involved."  
"I don't like the feel of that third source, though, Ash. I'd be careful if I were you." Enma cautioned.  
"Yeah...whatever it is, I know one thing for sure...it's a ghost." Ash said.  
"Just be careful, okay? I know you want to take care of this by yourself, and obviously I can't stop you from doing that now that your wings have grown."  
"Right. Ash out." Ash shut off the communicator screen, then looked around to see if anyone was coming. As soon as he confirmed that no one was immediately within earshot, his wings began to unfurl, accompanied by him screaming loudly. As his wings finished spreading, he quietly spoke something to himself.  
"Christ Jesus, I'll never get used to that." he rubbed his back slightly. Seconds later, he lifted himself into the air with the wings that had just sprouted, and took off toward the energy source.

* * *

Suddenly, Wayne felt a strong energy source heading in his direction.  
"Hmm...this'll be the first time I've seen him since the museum incident. Hey guys, we have company." Wayne called over to Plasmius and Skulker, who had flown to them only minutes earlier. About three seconds after Wayne finished speaking, Ash's laughter rang through the air around them.  
"Show yourself, Ketchum! I know it's you!" Wayne shouted.  
"Then you know what's about to happen!" Ash called out, as he rose from behind the next building over.  
"Yeah, I kick your ass and win without needing the Spirit Stone!" Wayne retorted.  
"I suggest all three of you surrender right now. None of you have a chance against me with my new powers." Ash smirked.  
"New powers?" Wayne said aloud, then added, " ...Now that I think of it, where'd those wings come fr-" He stopped at the end of his question, remembering when he felt an enormous power surge around the time of the Dan Phantom battle.  
"What?" Ash's eyebrows raised.  
"That power surge from a few weeks back...that was YOU?!" Wayne growled.  
"Yeah. Back when I wasted a ghost who was stronger than you could ever hope to be." Ash smirked.  
"I see...who would have thought that you were the last Kamoa?" Wayne grinned evilly. "My search has come to an end. As soon as I slay you, nothing will stop me from ending humanity's existence."  
"That may be the case...but are you sure you can defeat me?" Ash challenged.  
"We both know I'm more powerful than any of you lunkheads..." Wayne muttered, causing Plasmius and Skulker to look a tad offended, Plasmius even moreso than Skulker.  
"Then you won't mind if we sit back and watch you prove your strength...huh Wayne?" Plasmius grinned.  
"Uh..." Wayne looked somewhat hesitant.  
"I mean, after all, you said it yourself. You're CLEARLY more powerful than Skulker and I." Plasmius continued.  
"He's right, Wayne." Ash smirked. "You DID say that just now."  
"You stay out of this!" Wayne growled.  
"I'm already growing bored. You gonna fight or what?" Ash yawned.  
"I'll make you regret ever meeting me!" Wayne suddenly charged the Kamoa youth, who simply sidestepped it, much to Wayne's fright.  
"Mission accomplished. I already do." he said, no light-hearted, joking tone in his voice. "If it weren't for YOU..." he cut himself off, slamming his fist into Wayne's left cheek and sending him flying back about twenty feet. "...I'd be at home, happy with the way my life would have been going. You brought this all on yourself when you killed me the first time. If you had just left well enough alone, I wouldn't be in a position to fight you anyway. Because you killed me...you opened the gateway to your own defeat. Countless times I might add. How many times have I honestly kicked your ass now? I've lost count."  
"That'll all change when I find the Spirit Stone."  
"So you say. And by the way, that's IF you find it before my friends and I. Keep this in mind, Wayne. The ONLY reason you're still alive right now is cause I promised Janine I wouldn't kill you. For some reason I can't fathom, she still cares about you. If she knew you like I know you now, I'm sure she wouldn't want me to keep my promise. I may yet end up breaking that."  
"Don't talk about it like you have control over my life! I'm nobody's puppet!" Wayne roared. "I won't be fate's bitch!"  
"This isn't fate, Wayne. I don't like you. I think you're far too dangerous to be left alive." Ash countered. "I don't put too much stock in fate."  
"Oh, really?" Wayne's scowl slowly disappeared, being replaced with his trademark evil grin. "And why do you think so? Because you were told I was a threat to humanity...you're just being guided by Enma. He believes we're all fated to fill out preordained roles, Ketchum. Therefore, you 'subscribe to his newsletter' as it were."  
"I do this because I want to do something to change the world. I work for Enma, yes, but I don't believe in his whole fate bullshit." Ash remarked.  
"Can I subscribe to this newsletter?" Plasmius grinned. "That way, I could be fated to beat both of you chumps!"  
"SHUT IT, MASTERS!" Wayne's reply was a roar of anger.  
"Ooh...I sense dissension in the ranks, Wayne." Ash quipped.  
"Can I say something here?" Skulker interjected.  
"What is it?" the three of them simultaneously replied.  
"You're all a bunch of psychos!" There was silence for a moment, amongst all four of them, before Plasmius spoke up, seeming seriously repulsed by the accusation.  
"You set your hair on fire and come to battle wearing a RIDICULOUS looking costume, and you call ME a psycho?!"  
"MY costume?" Skulker scoffed. "RIDICULOUS? Think you can find me a better one out of that puny magazine?"  
"Hey, can it, hot head! Ooooooh, I so TOTALLY went there." The next few minutes could only be described as a back and forth brawl of the most comic and unthreatening verbal shenanigans, before Wayne finally cut in.  
"Okay, this is the stupidest battle I've EVER had. Let's NEVER speak of it. Ever again." On that note, Wayne jumped into the air, flying out of sight, leaving Ash, Skulker, and Plasmius to stare on in disbelief, while slowly coming to the conclusion that Wayne was serious, correct in his observations, and had no intention of returning. On that note, they got back on track, deciding that they did not like each other again.  
"So as I was saying," Skulker continued unsteadily, slowly breaking the silence. "Who cares about freewill or fate? Not me. I'm just here to do my job. Nothing more." This statement set Ash back onto the defensive.  
"I don't know what your job is," Ash retorted. "But I have NO interest in letting you see that through. Whatever it is. If you're on Wayne's good side, you're on my bad side. 'Nuff said." Skulker merely chuckled maniacally.  
"And what's a little punk like YOU going to do to stop me?" He retorted. This caused Plasmius to chuckle.  
"You're starting to sound like Wayne already, Skulker." Plasmius observed. Skulker chose to ignore the comment.  
"If he acts like Wayne, he'll fall like Wayne." With that, Ash charged in, ready to stop the threat that Skulker presented before it even started. Skulker took on a defensive stance, and Plasmius looked more than ready to back his minion up. All, however, were caught off guard, when a loud, obnoxious beeping noise broke the tense environment in which the three had found themselves. Ash nearly stumbled over in stupidity.  
"And that was...WHAT exactly?" Plasmius asked, a large sweatdrop appearing on the back of both his and Skulkers heads. Ash just sighed, looking down at his wrist communicator, which was emitting the annoying sound.  
"Hang on..." He stated annoyingly. "I gotta take this." Ash punched a few buttons on his wristwatch-type communicator as the two villians merely looked on, quite puzzled at the whole situation. "Yeah?" Ash spoke to his wrist when he was done fiddling with it. The voice of Enma came as no surprise to Ash, but to Plasmius and Skulker, it only brought further confusion, to different degrees.  
"Ash, you realize you have HOMEWORK that needs to be taken care of, right?" Enma stated, in a fatherly voice that only succeeded in pissing Ash off even more.  
"GOD DAMN IT ENMA, NOT NOW!" Ash bellowed. Nothing agitated Ash more than nagging, ESPECIALLY when said nagging comically interrupted what seemed to be a perfectly good fight. Ratty poked his head onto the screen, always having his own two cents of an input.  
"Bitch, you best not be takin' Enma's name in vain!" Ratty scolded. Enma just sighed.  
"Rattabald, my name is not god." Ratty turned to Enma with the same angered look.  
"And YOu, Bitch, best not be messin' with my life lessons! DAYUMN!" After another needless long silence, Ratty took the hint, scampering off screen, leaving Ash to finally answer Enma properly.  
"I left the kid with Jazz, he'll be fine, she's a good mommy, I'm trying to stop the forces of EVIL HERE!"  
"That's all fine and dandy," Enma said, clearly not swayed by Ash's excuses. "But Ms. Fenton is the one who contacted me in the first place." This just drew a puzzled look from Ash, much akin to the looks that were plastered onto the faces of Skulker and Plasmius, who had long since given up trying to make heads or tails of ANYTHING that had gone on in the past twenty minutes. By that, Enma was prompted to continue. "Your child will not stop crying. Jasmine believes that the baby wants to see his daddy. Last I checked, that was you." Ash didn't know what to say.  
"But I-" He looked around for a moment, focusing on Plasmius and Skulker. "And the villians-" He looked back to Enma. "And protecting Justice-" At this point, Enma had heard enough.  
"CAN IT MISTER!" Enma bellowed in the loudest tone Ash had ever heard him take. "You are a father now! You helped bring that child into this world and goddammit you will care for it! If you can't handle that, use a condom next time!" Ash just sulked. Looking up, he noticed that Skulker and Plasmius had long since left the site, apparently deciding that evil would best be spread another day. Enma chimed back in. "Are you listening to a WORD I'm saying?"  
"use a condom..." Ash recanted softly. Then he snapped. "ITS A GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKING SACK OF FLOUR! SEX HAD NOTING TO DO WITH ITS CREATION! AT LEAST NOT MY SEX! AND I ALWAYS WRAP!" Ratty popped back on screen, deciding that this moment should most definatly NOT be passed up.  
"Shit boy, you're a virgin if I ever seen one. And I seen alot. And I've taken alot. OH FUCKING SNAP!" He quickly ran away, as moments later, Botan ran across the screen in the same direction, oar raised, poised to attack. Enma chose to ignore this.  
"Just get your cocky little ass back to the house and take care of it. Enma out." As the communication faded, Enma could be heard making one last remark. "I swear, if I ever heard somebody talk about their own son like that..."  
"What in the name of GOD is going on in this town?" Ash sighed, before giving up, as he turned to head back in the direction of Fenton Works.

* * *

"There there...please don't cry...PLEASE DON'T CRY!" Jazz repeated frantically to the bawling sack of flour as she desperately rocked it back and forth. She looked impatiently at the door for what seemed like the millionth time, her brow arching into an angry expression, as she wandered aloud. "What the hell is taking Ash so long?" As if on que, the Spirit Detective burst through the door, with ACTION!  
"Have no fear!" Ash yelled, bursting at the seams with pride. "Daddy Ketchum is HERE!" When he actually came out of his fantasy world and back into the world of reality, he was met with nothing but the sight of a crying sack of flour and a nice mental taser from Jazz. "I know that look. I'm in trouble, aren't I?" Jazz merely nodded, the mental taser not breaking as she stood up, offering Ash his child.  
"He wants to see DADDY!" Jazz said, putting a small amount of senile, eye-twitching emphasis on the word 'Daddy'. Sighing, Ash took William in his arms. For a moment, he looked sentimental, as though he had actually found a place in his heart for his newborn son. Any hope of this, however, was quickly cut short, when Ash took his finger and pushed a very small red button on the flour sack's 'backside', causing the crying to instantly cease and desist. Jazz looked on, dumbfounded at first, though moments later, she decided she was still not impressed.  
"How the hell does that teach you to be a father?" Jazz scolded coldly. Ash just shrugged.  
"It's common knowledge."  
"What do you mean?" Jazz was confused. Ash just smirked.  
"All babies have round, red buttons on their asses. It's how parents shut them up." Jazz's mental taser power level was WAY over nine thousand at this point. Ash just sighed heavily.  
"Look, I have no interest in kids. I'm fourteen fucking years old!" Ash seemed very pissed off, and rightfully so, given that everyone was riding his ass about an inanimate object. Either way, it was enough to silence Jazz for a long enough time for the former to say his piece. "It's an inanimate FUCKING object! It's NOT a Child! You have NO reason to get affectionate over it! That fucking BITCH Tetslaff will probably turn it into a batch of GODDAMN sugar COOKIES when we're done with it anyway? Is that the fate you want for your child, Jazz? SUGAR COOKIES?!" Ash had to try and catch his breath at this point. As he did so, he looked up to Jazz, awaiting a response. Her expression was vague for a moment, then slowly, the tears beging to swell in her eyes. "Oh, Goddammit..." Ash muttered silently. He knew he couldn't stop what was coming. He just looked on in disbelief as the tears began to stream down Jazz's soft white cheeks.  
"Why are you like this?" Jazz sobbed through the tears. "All I want is for you to care for your child! He's yours too! We made him together! He's OUR only one, Ash? Why can't you look past what's on the outside and see what's on the inside?" Ash was way past the point of caring on this.  
"So I look past the burlap and into the soft white flour?" Jazz merely cried louder, to which Ash once again just sighed. "It's a sack of flour, Jazz." Ash said, surprisingly calmly. "It has no feelings, and I have no feelings for it." Ash turned to walk out the door, with Jazz looking on, her eyes now red from all the crying she'd been doing.  
"So that's it?" She stammered. "You're going to walk out of my life?"  
"Until you figure out that it's a sack of flour, as I've said fifty million times, yes, that's the idea." And with that, Ash walked out the front door to Fenton works, determined to get as far away from his classmates as possible until he figured out what had gotten into all of them.  
Back in Fenton Works, Jazz, still crying, could be seen kneeling on the floor, promising her baby that everything would be okay in the end. Before she could do anything to "reaffirm" that, however, Skulker suddenly plowed through the wall, an angry look on his face.  
"Skulker!" Jazz cried out.  
"I'll give you five seconds to tell me where the boy known as the last Kamoa is, human child." Skulker said, his eyes narrowing as he readied one of the many "rifles" on his ectoskeleton. "Five...four...three..."  
"You're wasting your time! I have no idea where he is! Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you!" Jazz stood in clear defiance of Skulker.  
"...I see." he sighed, and not even a second later, a hole had been blasted into the wall behind her. "Consider that a warning shot."  
"I already told you, I don't know where he is!" Jazz protested.  
"Well..." Skulker trailed off, an evil grin forming on his face. "...You can still help me find him."  
"I don't like that look..." Jazz said, fear evident on her face as Skulker closed the distance between them.

* * *

"Stupid Enma...stupid Jazz..." Ash trailed off angrily, as he spotted Jenny and Yusuke strolling their flour sack around happily. "Stupid Jenny and Yusuke..." Ash sighed loudly. "What the hell is everyone's problem? Why don't they realize that it's just a damn flour sack?!" Again, all the young man could do was sigh. "I'll never understand these fucking wackos." Ash just continued to walk, soon finding himself in a lesser populated part of Amity Park. "Well, this is good." He thought aloud. "At least I can get a little peace and quiet here." As he walked, his thoughts drifted to the flour sack. "It's not like I don't EVER want a kid, but with Wayne and Plasmius, and all those goons from the Ghost Zone... I couldn't do that. Not to Misty, OR to Ja... wait, did I just think about having a kid with freaking Jazz?! God DAMMIT, this whole week has been HELL... still, the little guy's kinda cute." He continued to walk down the street, but was not at peace for long, for shortly thereafter, he heard a loud, whiny scream that sounded extremely familiar to him.  
"NO! DONT DO IT! DON'T HURT MY SON! WILLIAM!" Came the bellows of Jazz Fenton, crying out for the sake of her imaginary child. Ash began to sprint in the direction of the sound, more concerned for why Jazz was in such a panic than what was happening to 'William'. Rounding a corner into a dark alleyway, Ash saw the source of the screams.  
Jazz sat on the ground, back leaning against a wall, crying as she continued to plea. "Skulker PLEASE, don't do it! He's just a child!" Jazz protested to Skulker, who was standing opposite of her in the alleyway, which was the part of this scenario which confused Ash.  
Skulker was wearing his usual armor. However, he also had on a gourmet chef's hat, and a matching white apron that read "Burn the Cook, kiss me instead." in large bold red letters. He was standing over an oven, which he had some how gotten to work outside in an alleyway, as the clear glass oven door showed that the burners were red with heat and ready to go. In one arm, he held 'William', who, for whatever reason, was tied up with three pieces of rope. In the other arm, he held a cookie tray, which was already lubed with cooking oil and ready to go. "Silence, woman!" Skulker bellowed at Jazz, which only caused her to cry louder. "On second thought, no, no silence. Keep yelling. Yell your bloody lungs out! Until that pesky Kamoa child shows his face, I want you to scream like you just ate one of Skulkers warm, delicious, mouth watering chocolate chip cookies!" At this point, Skulker broke away, looking into what one might call 'The camera', and speaking. "And remember, don't forget to watch 'Cooking with Skulker', every Monday night at nine, eight central, only on Amity Food Network." He proceeded to wink into the camera, though his moment of glory was cut short by the voice of the very person he was looking for.  
"Your show sucks, Skulker!" Ash said confidently, taking a battle stance. "And I tried your recipe for chocolate covered meat balls. It made me PUKE!" Ash might as well have insulted Skulkers mother, using the words 'Whore', 'Bitch', and 'Takes it in the Can', as that was the look that Skulker had plastered onto his face.  
"You DARE insult my CHOCOLATE COVERED MEATBALLS?!" Skulker bellowed, demanding justice.  
"Damn right I do!" Ash retorted. "Now drop the fucking flour sack so I can kick your ass and get this over with!" Skulker merely grinned, eyeing Jazz for a moment, before averting his sinister slash master chef gaze back to Ash.  
"Drop it, you say?" Skulker smirked. "Very well then. If that is what you wish." Time seemed to slow down as Skulker slowly released his grip on the flour sack. Jazz screamed out, trying to jump out and catch William, but was met with the force of Skulkers boot, which sent her careening back into the brick wall of the alley. A moment later, her body fell limp to the ground, unconscious, at exactly the same time William hit the pavement. Though he initially seemed uninjured, Skulker tipped the sack over with his foot, at which point, flour started leaking out a hole in the bottom of the burlap sack.  
Time slowly went back to normal, and Ash, merely staring on in shock and awe, clenching his fists, grinding his teeth, let out a battle cry, seeping with rage. "You BASTARD!" Drawing out the word bastard, Ash charged Skulker viciously, tossing a quick one-two combo at his chest. The villainous Chef was fumbling back on his feet from the get go, as Ash had caught him off guard. He was able to throw out two sloppy parries before hopping back, regaining his footing and taking his own battle stance. Ash, however, was quick on the assault, and Skulker barely had time to prepare himself before a punch-kick-pucnh punch-kick combo came his way. Again, Skulker was barely able to dodge the flurry of blows being sent at him by Ash.  
"He's fighting with so much rage, that he's lost all tactic." Skulker thought to himself. "I can't predict what's coming next." Skulkers mental doubt put him off guard just enough for Ash to finally land a hit, nailing Skulker right in the gut with a knee. The Kamoa went for a coup-de-gras with his elbow, but Skulker still had enough sense to side step, though he was still doubled over in pain. "You...you basta-" Skulker tried to speak, but his pause proved to be a BIG mistake in the presence of a pissed off Kamoa Fighter, as Ash's fist connected firmly with Skulkers face, sending him flailing backwards. That, however, was just Ash's left. The follow up blow from the right hand connected in the EXACT same spot as the punch before it, and this time, the blow was truly mighty, as the head of Skulkers exoskeleton came flying off, dissapearing high into the air. "What the-" Came Skulkers real voice from inside of the remaining part of the suit. "Nuts to this! I'm out of here!" But before he could do anything, Ash had the Rift Sword drawn, being held by both hands in a slashing stance, and for the first time since this skirmish began, Ash spoke up, the rage in his voice very evident. "That...was for Jazz." He muttered between his heavy, angry breaths. "And this...IS FOR MY SON!" The sword held in Ash's hands was brought to his side, as his spirit energy visibly formed around it in a tornado motion, becoming empowered. As the energy stopped flowing, the sword itself caught fire as Ash brought it back to the ready position. He then kicked off, springing himself into the air, coming down at Skulker. "SPIRIT SLASH!" He yelled, releasing a wave of energy that sliced cleanly through Skulkers armor, causing it to explode. The explosion rocketed the real Skulker into the air, with a cry of "I'll be back child! Count on it!" As he quickly dissapeared into the afternoon sky, nothing more than a flash of light off in the distance. Ash finally dropped his guard after a moment, realizing he had beaten Skulker. Quickly, his senses came back to him, as he looked first to William, lying at his feet, and then to Jazz, still out cold against the wall. He smiled to the both of them, untying Willam, picking Jazz up, cradling her in his arms, before returning to pick up his son, placing him on top of Jazz, and carefully wrapping her limp arms around the child.  
"You'll be a good mother someday." Ash said tenderly, before leaving the alley, walking slowly in the direction of Fenton Works.

* * *

Jazz slowly came to, many hours later. Though at first, she felt pain and ache all over her body, she quickly dissmissed those feelings, remembering the last position she had found herself in, jolting up out of her bed. "William! Skulker what did-" She cut herself off, however, when she looked to the right of her bed.  
There sat Ash, rocking in a rocking chair, cradling William, who had a duct tape bandage on his 'leg', in his arms. When Ash noticed that Jazz had come to, he merely smiled at her. "Shhh." He said quietly. "I just got him to sleep." Jazz's eyes teared up.  
"Oh, Ash..." She said softly. "You do care." The young woman then laid back down, resting her head softly upon her pillow. The sight of Ash tending to their son warmed her thoughts as she drifted back into sleep.

* * *

The bell rang to start Ms. Tetslaff's class, and Ash took his seat a moment later, late as usual, next to a very pissed off Star.  
"So I see you took GREAT care of our sack." Star scoffed, dispite the fact that she had had nothing to do with its care at all. Ash glared at her.  
"Listen bitch," He scolded. "The very MINIMUM amount of effort I put into raising this child is more than you've EVER done for it."  
"Ketchum!" Came the cold scold of Tetslaff. "Your flour sack looks like shit!" A statement which set the class back, hearing the middle aged woman swear. "Front and center! Explain yourself!" To everyones surprise, Ash didn't go off. Rather, he nodded sternly, standing up carefully, bringing his son up to Ms. Tetslaffs desk. "Well?" Tetslaff demanded.  
"I admit it." Ash stated calmly, to even the teachers surprise. "I didn't do a good job. I passed it off to somebody else who's responsibility it wasn't, and even then, I let harm befall it. Star didn't do anything to help, literally. She was more obsessed with getting in bed with half the football team." A statement which caused Star to gasp, and half of the class to laugh. It might be noted that Star merely crossed her arms and looked away in anger, never denying the statement. Ash continued on. "But I'm not making excuses."  
"Why then, would you bother somebody else with raising your flour sack?"  
"Because I just wanted a grade. I didn't care. But I came to realize, this is more then a flour sack. It's my son, William." Ash was getting crazed looks from most everyone in the class at this point, though he ignored them. "I guess part of me just realized, I was scared at the thought of parenthood, even if it wasn't real. And I learned that I'm not ready to be a father." There was a long pause, Tetslaff looking on, shocked at this revelation from the normally hard assed Ash Ketchum. "So I admit to my failure. Here's William. Give me the failing grade I deserve, and please, take good care of him." Ash turned to walk away, but was stopped by Tetslaff's voice.  
"Hold on a second, Ketchum." Ash turned, looking with question to her. "I didn't expect that from you. Not at all. I'll admit, the flour sack came to harm, and I cannot look past that. It comes off on the grade. But you've impressed me, and that's saying something." She pulled out a pen and a paper, scribbling down a few things, and making a few check marks, before holding it up, extending it to Ash. "Sixty Percent." She stated. "A D Minus, but a passing grade none the less. Congratulations Ketchum." Ash's face lit up as he grabbed the paper, smiling brightly at his teacher.  
"Thank you, Ms. Tetslaff." Ash said, turning to walk back to his seat. Halfway to it, he turned back around. "Oh, and promise not to turn him into cookies?" His face looked like that of a kid in a candy store. "I may want to visit him on the weekends." The class laughed, and Tetslaff merely rolled her eyes.  
"Of course, Ketchum." Came her comic response. Ash nodded with approval, and went to sit back down.  
"Oh, and Star, you did nothing, so you get nothing. Except maybe AIDS." Which caused the class to burst out into riotous laughter, and had star hiding her face in the desk. "A big fat Zero." Everyone continued to howl, except for Ash, who merely smiled to himself.  
"Maybe being a dad," He said, too quietly for anyone to hear. "Wouldn't be so bad after all."

* * *

"Oh, mama mia! Look Nikki! I've found my hat!" A large, Italian man walking down the street with his wife ran up to the detached head of Skulker's exoskeleton, which was resting against a street drainage vent, too big to fit in. The man quickly removed the hat from the skull, placing it back on his own head, before promptly hugging and kissing his young wife. "I'm-a complete again!" The two held hands, walking on down the street, as the camera panned back to Skulker's head, before slowly fading to black.

* * *

Author's Note: Hey guys, sorry for the craptastic scene-splitting. This is the best I can do using FFN's editor. I changed a few lines and scenes from the original version, corrected some spelling mistakes, etc. For those who want to see the very first version of this episode, send me a message, and I'll send it your way.


	35. Sparks of Revenge

PokeWing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 35: Sparks of Revenge  
A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke.

Disclaimer. Episodes 1 and 25. ARR.

* * *

The night sky of Amity Park was clear and beautiful to Ash Ketchum as he sat in the passenger seat of his tutor's car. Jazz simply stared on as she drove across town. In the backseat, Jenny, Yusuke, and Danny sat, eagerly anticipating their destination. After a few minutes of silence, Ash spoke up.  
"Nice night to go do this, eh?" Ash asked. "I've been living here for a month and a half now, and I never knew Amity Park had a Karaoke bar."  
"You could've asked." Danny and Jazz chimed in simultaneously.  
"True, true..." Ash trailed off. Another three minutes of pure silence followed before Ash spoke up again. "So...is that the same outfit you wore to the Chip Skylark concert?"  
"Sure is. I like this outfit." Jazz grinned.  
"Like the black shirt and blue bell-bottoms I ALWAYS see you in every other time you're around?" Yusuke commented.  
"It's not like I've seen you wear anything else..." Jazz said, her eyes narrowing. Yusuke's only response was a monosyllabic chuckle.  
"Seriously...if you're gonna get onto me for wearing identical outfits, you shouldn't...do the...same..." Jazz moaned, as her head hit the wheel. The car suddenly swerved onto the opposite side of the road, right into the path of an oncoming semi.  
The screams of the four passengers who were still conscious seemed to echo into the night as the truck drew near.

* * *

(Title) Sparks of Revenge  
(Subtitle) A burning desire to rock and roll!  
(Jingle) Techno Synthesizer  
(Image) A shadowy, blue-eyed ghost stands tall above Ash, who looks like he's freaking out.  
Guest Voice: Tara Strong as Ember

* * *

"JESUS CHRIST!" Ash shouted, grabbing the wheel and violently steering he and his friends away from what may very well have been their deaths. Seconds later, he slammed on the brake, causing his friends to get violently jerked forward and subsequently "caught" by their seatbelts, aside from Jenny, whose metallic body put too much strain on the belt, snapping it. Ash just barely avoided having the top half of his body taken with Jenny on her trip through the windshield. Ash reached over to the shift, parking the car before turning the ignition, to make absolute sure that they wouldn't be going anywhere else. Ash quickly got out of the car, running to the driver's side and opening the door. "Jazz? Jazz?"  
"Yeah, yeah, NOBODY got thrown through the windshield just now!" Jenny yelled from about ten feet in front of the car, still recovering herself. Ash ignored her, still concerned about Jazz, and was quickly joined by Danny, as Yusuke ran to check on Jenny, who was, of course, alright.  
"Is she okay, Ash?" Danny asked, referring to his sister. Jazz was a safe driver, and a healthy person. "I can't imagine what would cause her to fall asleep at the wheel." He said, stating the end of his thoughts aloud. Ash did not respond for a moment.  
"That was more of a collapse," Ash said, finally breaking the silence. "Than it was a 'Falling Asleep'."  
"She collapsed?" Jenny asked, her and Yusuke finally joining the crowd around Jazz.  
"From what I saw, anyway. Danny, has she seemed tired at all today to you?" Ash pondered. Danny looked away for a few minutes, as if he were straining to remember.  
"Not at all, dude. She's been wide awake and excited about going to this karaoke bar...which is weird cause she blows at singing." Danny said, his eyebrow arching.  
"Yusuke." Ash called, ignoring Danny's satirical statement. "Here, take my cell phone and call 911." Ash extended his hand, offering the fellow Spirit Detective his cellular device. Yusuke took it and dialed the number, lifting the phone up to his ear. A moment later, he could be heard speaking to somebody.  
"Yeah, a friend of ours-" Yusuke began the process of explaining what had happened and where they were to the 911 Operator ont he other line. Meanwhile, Ash, Danny, and Jenny stood around Jazz, who still sat buckled in the front seat.  
"What could have caused this?" Danny though aloud.  
"You tell me." Ash said as he sat Jazz into an upright position, trying to think of anything else he could do to better this puzzling situation.  
"Maybe she's exhausted? Stayed up too late last night or something like that?" Jenny suggested. Danny nearly scoffed at the idea.  
"My sister? No, she's always in bed and always up by a certain time. WAY too high maintenance for that to be the case."  
"She's not been sick or hurt since that incident with Skulker, has she?" Was Ash's suggestion, though again, Danny dismissed the idea.  
"She's been just fine. Not a THING out of the ordinary."  
"So what the hell is the problem then?" Ash was starting to get edgy, which was something everyone wanted to avoid.  
"I don't know Ash." Danny said defensively. "I'm just as confused by this as you are, believe me."  
"Alright, thanks, bye." Yusuke's voice chimed back into the conversation as he hit the 'End call' button on Ash's cell, making his way back to the rest of the group. "The Amity Park Hospital is sending a small EMS team to come check on her." He elaborated. "They'll be here soon."  
"How soon?" Ash demanded.  
"Fuck man, I didn't ask 'em. I just assume that a paramedic team will haul ass."  
"They better." Ash huffed, as he began to pace a small circle near the hood of the car, his worry was written all over his face.  
"Even though he's overreacting," Danny said. "I'm honestly just as worried."  
"They say surprises like this can be the worst on people." Jenny said.  
"Yeah," Yusuke agreed. "It's one thing when you see something coming, but when it goes from great to shitty, everyone gets caught off guard." There was no disagreement from the group.  
"What the hell could have caused this...?" Ash spoke up, after a minute of shared silence from the group. "And why the hell couldn't I sense anything? God DAMN IT!" he suddenly shouted, kicking the front end of Jazz's car repeatedly.  
"Whoa, calm down man! You're gonna break something!" Yusuke protested.  
"I'm FINE." Ash growled.  
"It's not YOU I'm worried about. It's the car." Yusuke's eyebrow arched. "She's not gonna last long if you keep kicking her like that."  
"I just..." Ash trailed off.  
"I know. You're worried about Jazz. I am too, even if she is a bitch at times." Yusuke said. "She's still a friend."  
"I don't know...what I'd do if something happened that I couldn't prevent." Ash looked off to his left as he finished saying what he had to say. "Why the hell am I letting this get to me so much?!"  
"Because you love her." Yusuke explained. Ash just looked back at him like he was an alien.  
"This is SO not the time to tease me, Yusuke!" Ash said, snarling.  
"I'm not teasing you. Why is it that you've always leapt at the chance to save her at any time she's in danger?" Yusuke asked, staring Ash down with an intensity the younger Spirit Detective had only felt once aside from that.  
"She's my friend." Ash answered, stressing each word as if he were about to maul Yusuke, which wasn't far from what he actually felt like doing at the moment.  
"So are we...but I didn't see you going out of your way to save us if we needed it." Yusuke argued. "And I know what you're going to say. 'She doesn't have superpowers like we do, Yusuke!' I won't argue that. What I WILL argue is that Danny could have just as easily saved her, and would have each time if you didn't beat him to the punch." Ash stared on for a few minutes, his eyes darting back and forth between Yusuke and Jazz. As he continued to stare back and forth, the ambulance finally arrived, and the paramedic team stepped out. Two young men and an older woman jogged over to the car as Danny waved them down.  
"Is this the young lady?" the first young man asked, pointing at Jazz.  
"No, she just decided to randomly pass out at the wheel while we were waiting for you to come get the real victim." Ash said sarcastically. "Of COURSE that's her."  
"None of that, please." Yusuke scolded Ash. "Yes sir, that's the lady." he said to the man who had asked. "She just passed out while we were driving.  
"Stand back, please." the man instructed, crawling into the car and checking Jazz for a pulse before calling to the other man that was with him. "Kent, can you get the smelling salts?"  
"Sure thing, Marcus." the second young man, apparently named Kent, answered, as he dashed back over to the ambulance. A few seconds later, he came back over, bringing with him a white cylindrical object. He handed it to Marcus, who proceeded to hold it under Jazz's nose until she finally started to slowly rouse back into consciousness.  
"Ohh..." Jazz moaned, as her eyes slowly fluttered open. "Where am I...?"  
Marcus spoke up as Jazz slowly became aware of her surroundings. "Ma'am, you passed out at the wheel of your vehicle."  
"Oh god!" Jazz piped up, her eyes reaching epic-level wideness as she darted her head around. "Is anyone hurt?"  
"No, everybody's fine."  
"Uh, SOME of us were thrown through a windshield." Jenny remarked, with an offended look on her face.  
"My apologies, Miss..." Marcus trailed off, not realizing the name of the woman with whom he was speaking.  
"It's Jenny. Jenny Wakeman. And don't worry, I'll be fine as soon as you tell me what's wrong with my friend there." Jenny responded.  
"Alright, just give me a few minutes to examine her..." Marcus said.  
"Of course. Sorry." Jenny apologized, stepping away from the car.  
"I need you to clear the area for a few minutes as well." Marcus said, turning to Danny, pausing for a second before going on to ask, "Hey...aren't you Danny Fenton?"  
"How do you know my name?" Danny asked, his eyes widening.  
"I was one of the paramedics that picked you up when you had that accident nearly a year ago." Marcus explained.  
"...I thought you looked familiar. Small world, huh?" Marcus remained silent for a second, before smirking. "So...what's it like, fighting ghosts?"  
"Uh...excuse me?" Danny asked. "I wouldn't know. My parents don't let me use their equipment."  
"I'm not a brain-dead high school jock, Danny Fenton...or should I call you Danny Phantom? You had that accident almost a year ago. That's also when ghosts started entering Amity Park. It's also when Danny Phantom first started fighting them." Marcus didn't drop his smirk even once. "Hell, your name even SOUNDS similar. Danny Fenton..." he raised one hand at glanced over at it, before raising the other hand and saying "Danny PHANTOM."  
"Dammit...I KNEW I should have gone with another nickname." Danny half-muttered to himself.  
"You don't need to panic. I haven't told anyone, and I don't plan on doing so." Marcus's smirk changed to a smile.  
"Thanks. Maybe I'll just head over there for a bit while you examine my sister and look into finding a more subtle nickname..." Danny whistled as he climbed out of the car and walked over to Jenny, Ash, and Yusuke, the second of which was still pacing angrily.  
"WELL?" Ash shouted impatiently.  
"He still hasn't examined her!" Danny protested. "So calm the hell down, already!"  
"Fuck you!" Ash responded, in a voice which seemed to stir shock in the others, even Jenny. "I'll calm down when I know she's gonna be okay!" Yusuke, Jenny, and Danny all stared on in open-mouth shock, before Yusuke suddenly scowled.  
"Alright...that's IT!" he shouted, slugging Ash as hard as he could across the face, which caused the fourteen year old Spirit Detective to fall on his ass as he stared up in shock at Yusuke.  
"OW! What the FUCK, man?!" Ash yelped.  
"I'm sick of this attitude, Ash. Didn't you ever once consider that you're making this even harder on Jazz by acting like this?! Grow the fuck up, you jack hole! You're not the only one who's worried about her!" Yusuke motioned to Danny as he finished speaking.  
"Yusuke's right. You're acting like a total asshole. Now calm DOWN." Danny finished his sentence with the added effect of his eyes turning menacingly green.  
"..." Ash looked away for a second, his eyes showing intense anger, before finally softening up. "...I'm sorry, guys..."  
"Hey..." Yusuke trailed off, causing Ash to look back at him as he gave a relieved smile. "We're all buds. No harm no foul, right? On that note...sorry about the right hook to the jaw. I couldn't think of any other way to get you to stop."  
"It's cool, man." Ash said softly as he stared over at Jazz. After another few minutes of silence between the four, Marcus joined them and announced, "Physically, she seems fine...however, we're going to keep her at the hospital overnight for observation."  
"Right." Yusuke said. "Do what ya gotta do, man."  
"Don't worry." Marcus said, staring over at Ash. "We're going to take very good care of her."  
"I would hope so...cause if something happens to her, I'll be gunning for you." Ash warned. Immediately, Marcus replied with "I'll make sure she gets the best available attention. In the meantime, is there anyone else here who can drive?"  
"Ooh, ooh!" Jenny's hand shot up in anticipation.  
"No thanks. I want to make it home ALIVE." Yusuke said. "I'm driving."  
"Asshole." Jenny muttered, lowering her hand and sulking. "Well, I call SHOTGUN! So there!"  
"Whatever. let's go." Yusuke said, walking over to the driver's seat moments after Jazz had been evacuated from the car and placed onto a stretcher.  
"Do those two fight a lot?" Marcus asked Danny and Ash.  
"Yeah, but they're good friends." Danny pointed out, and all three could overhear Yusuke saying "C'mon, I'll get'cha a motor oil shake on the way home."  
"Damn your temptations, Urameshi!" Jenny sighed. "Very well. Make it so, and I won't give you literal blue balls."  
"Yeah, yeah..." Yusuke chuckled, as Ash and Danny climbed into the backseat. Suddenly, Danny belted out a hearty "SHIT!"  
"What is it?" Jenny asked, not turning around.  
"I haven't called Mom and Dad to let them know!" Danny said, slapping his forehead as he flipped open his cell phone with his other hand. After a few seconds he started speaking again. "Mom, it's Danny...something bad has happened...Jazz passed out at the wheel...the paramedics already examined her and said she'd be okay, but they're putting her in the hospital for overnight observation...we're all fine. The windshield's broken, though. No, the car still runs...Yusuke...Yeah, he can drive...Yeah, he'll bring us home...Alright mom...Love you too." Danny mumbled the last little bit as he hung up the phone. Yusuke let out a hacking cough as he started up the ignition.  
"Mama's boy." He joked as though he was just coughing. Jenny chuckled, while Danny just gave Yusuke a dirty look. Yusuke joined in the chuckling with Jenny as he checked his mirrors, and turned back onto the main road, driving the remainder of the gang back in the direction of Fentonworks.

* * *

"I don't know, Enma." Riku said, sighing heavily as he spoke. He had just finished the days chores, and had changed from his maid outfit into his street clothes; A pair of jeans and a loose t-shirt. Enma looked on sternly from his desk.  
"Do you truly believe in your heart," Enma replied. "That it's the right thing to do? This is not a decision you can make lightly, Riku Kurosawa." Riku nodded affirmatively.  
"I've been thinking about it, Enma. Long and hard." Riku paused for a moment. "I know it's right. I know she's right." There was another long silent pause. "I love her, Enma." He stared at his feet, blushing a very bright red. Enma just chuckled.  
"You've come a long way, Riku." Enma dropped his chuckle for a smile. "Not long ago, you knew nothing but anguish and rage. Look at what you've become now. I'm proud of you, young man." The two smiled at each other.  
"Hey guys." Came a voice from the hallway to the left. It was Osaka, dressed in her evening clothes; a bright pink silk gown, which rested upon her young figure quite nicely. She'd definitely grown into more of a woman since she'd moved in at Spirit World Castle. Riku couldn't help but eye her. She smiled brightly when she saw Riku. Though blushing, the latter did the same thing.  
"Hey hon." With that, Riku nodded, and turned away, making his way to the double doors that lead out of Spirit World Castle. After a moment, however, young Ayumu was right behind him, tugging at the bottom of his shirt.  
"Now hold on, Mister." She said playfully. "Where do you think you're going?" She grinned at him, but Riku, embarrassed, did not turn his head to face her.  
"I..uh..." He stuttered as he spoke. Enma couldn't help but laugh on the inside. "I've got...p..places to be today..I'll talk to you later hon..." Before she could question him further, he pulled himself away lightly and opened the doors. Seconds later, he was gone. Ayumu seemed very confused. She turned to Enma, a questioning look on her face. Enma, playing his cards in Riku's interest, merely shrugged, acting the fool.  
"He just came in here and said he'd be back later." Confused, Ayumu looked back to the doors that Riku had just used to exit, and sighed.  
"Riku...I hope you're alright."

* * *

The drive back to Fentonworks was relatively quiet, with the exception of a massive amount of half-audible mumbling from Ash.  
"She better be okay..." He would say quietly. "Goddammit she better be okay."  
"Jesus, Ash, calm the fuck down." Yusuke said after about five minutes of listening to it. "I understand you're worried, but dude, she's gonna be okay. They said there wasn't anything wrong with her on site. I HIGHLY doubt that they're gonna find anything wrong with her at the hospital." Ash fumed.  
"Then why the hell did what happened happen in the first place, huh? Tell me that!"  
"Who fucking knows?!" Yusuke retorted, getting seriously sick of Ash's bickering. "If you worry yourself over it you're just gonna get sick too, so just calm down and shut the fuck up!" Ash finally simmered down, as he had never heard Yusuke sound that pissed off before, though he still kept a sour look on his face as he watched the cars go by in the night for the rest of the trip.  
"I just hope mom and dad aren't mad at Jazz about the car." Danny chimed in, trying to change the mood of the conversation.  
"Don't worry, Danny." Jenny offered her own advice. "I'd say they'll be happy to know that Jazz is okay." Danny nodded.  
"Besides, it's just the wind-" Yusuke started, but was cut off by Ash.  
"Stop the car." He mumbled.  
"Excuse me?"  
"STOP THE GODDAMN CAR!" Ash yelled, causing Yusuke to slam his foot down on the brake pedal. He looked back to Ash with a very angry look on his face as a couple of cars went by them, honking their horns and shooting Yusuke many, many birds.  
"What's your problem now, huh?"  
"I want out." Ash explained, rather calmly.  
"What, here in the middle of fucking nowhere? What're you gonna do, walk back to the friggin' hospital?" Jenny just nudged Yusuke on the shoulder. "What?" He said angrily as he looked over to her, before noticing the front of the Fentonworks building outside her passenger window.  
"Yeah," Jenny said, with a comical look on her face. "We're here."  
"Well...yeah..." Yusuke said, calming down. "But the parking garage is around back." Ash just sighed and opened the door, slamming it as he walked out.  
"I have to talk to her parents." Ash yelled back, and before anyone could say anything else, he had disappeared inside of Fentonworks. There was a loud sigh let out in unison by the three remaining in the car.  
"I just don't get him sometimes." Danny said after a moment of silence, to which Jenny and Yusuke both agreed.  
"Yeah, me either." The two said in perfect unison. Yusuke put the car back into drive, and began to circle the road, heading to the parking lot behind Fentonworks.

* * *

It was late at night, but Enma found himself unable to sleep. He merely sat at his desk, which was lit by one very dim light, attempting to file away papers, though in all honesty, he was just shuffling the mess on his desk from one side to the other, attempting to keep himself busy. The ruler of Spirit World found himself anxious, if you will, curious, as to how the actions of Riku would play out for the future, and how they would play out for the right here right now. Though these were still desperate times, one man had found a way to drag himself out of a hole, and look past it all, to something greater. At long last, Enma broke the eerie silence with a grin and a chuckle.  
"Oh, I over think things way too much, I suppose." He spoke aloud, though as far as he knew, nobody was around. "These next few days will most definitely be interesting."  
"How so?" Came a voice from the other side of the room. A very rodenty voice, if you will. Enma turned and chuckled as he saw Ratty, dressed in his night gown and night cap, with a blindfold up over his forehead, as though he had been trying to use it to sleep. His way being lit by a simple candle, he walked over and climbed up on Enma's desk. There was silence.  
"You can't sleep either, then?" Enma asked his furry secretary. The latter shook his head.  
"One of those nights, I suppose you could say." Ratty seemed very docile, which surprised Enma, even at such an hour. "So what were you goin' on about?" Enma just smirked.  
"He's going to do it." The Overlord said calmly, causing Ratty to arch one of his very fuzzy eyebrows.  
"Who's 'he'?"  
"Riku."  
"What's Riku-" Ratty cut himself off there. It had hit him, and the rodents jaw practically hit the floor.  
"He's gonna?"  
"Yup."  
"No shit?"  
"No shit at all." Enma was grinning from ear to ear. Ratty was silent for a moment, before surprise got the better of him.  
"Holy fucking asscrackers." He said out of surprise. "I can't believe it."  
"Believe it." Enma said nodding. "Like I said, I can't wait to see what happens next."

* * *

Ash barged in the front doors of Fentonworks, his first sight being Jack and Maddie, pacing back and forth, wearing their pajamas. They seemed to be waiting on news from the gang. Both of their faces lit up when they saw Ash come in.  
"Ash. Thank goodness." Maddie said, happy to see at least one of them. Jack, however, was looking around searchingly.  
"Say now...where are the others? Particularly, my son. The one that wasn't hurt."  
"Jack, honey," Maddie said. "You only have one son."  
"But I can't see him. If I can't see him, how do I know he's real?" Maddie just rolled her eyes. Ash was quick to cut to the chase before any more of this could go on.  
"I need to go to the OP Center." Ash said calmly, causing both Jack and Maddie to give him a puzzled look.  
"Pardon?" Jack said, not sounding all that happy with what he thought he heard.  
"I need to go up to the OP Center." Ash repeated, as calmly as he could.  
"Well, I..." Maddie started, though she was quickly cut off by Jack.  
"No." Jack stated firmly. What little cool Ash had was gone.  
"What, you're not even going to hear me out?!" Ash fumed. Jack held his ground.  
"No, because I'm just going to say 'No' anyway."  
"But I have to see those security cameras." Ash half pleaded, half demanded. "There's gotta be something on there that's gonna tell me why what happened to Jazz happened." At this point, Jack walked over to Ash, bending down to his level.  
"For all I know, YOU'RE the reason my daughter is in the hospital right now."  
"Yeah, like I'd-"  
"N-O and that is FINAL." Ash was cut off by Jack. "Come on Maddie. I heard the car come in. Let's go check on Danny." The two began to walk away, before Jack stopped and turned his head back to Ash. "And don't even try to sneak in. There are combination locks and every type of security to prevent ANYONE from entering the OP Center. It's virtually impossible for any tangible, non ghostly human to enter. So THERE." Jack spat that last comment at Ash as though he were only four or five years old. When the two left, Ash simply sneered, before plastering a rather thoughtful, conniving look on his face.  
"Thankfully, I just happen to know a non tangible ghost with the same interests as me." The young spirit detective chuckled softly to himself as he turned to walk out the doors to Fentonworks.  
For now, at least.

Ash had been hiding in the bushes across the street for no more than five minutes before he saw the sight he wanted to see. The Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle pulled out of the works, and off in the direction of the Hospital. Ash chuckled quietly.  
"Excellent." He said with a slur to his voice.  
All of a sudden, the newly added sirens on the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle began to blare, and a moment later, Jack and Maddie jumped out, Ghost capturing equipment in hand. Ash put his hands over his lips and quickly got down on his belly, attempting to hide.  
"Did they hear me?" He thought to himself.  
"Where is it Maddie? Where is the blasted creature through which we can see and walk through?" Maddie stared at a strange device in her hand, a ghost detector, Ash assumed, but it was silent. After a moment, she shook her head.  
"Nothing, honey." She said, though Jack did not seem convinced.  
"Just you wait, you despicable creatures of the night!" Jack yelled into the air. "JACK FENTON WILL WREAK VENGANCE UPON YOUR TRANSLUCENT BEHINDS!" With that, both adults hopped back into the RV and were gone around the corner. Again, Ash sat up.  
"Damn, that was close." He said aloud, with a sigh of relief. "Wait, how did I set off the-" Ash was cut off by a ghastly, yet not all that threatening, voice behind him.  
"BEWARE!" Came the voice of the all too well known Box Ghost. "FOR MY LOVE OF ALL THINGS CARDBOARD IS-"  
"Dude, bad day. Just go the fuck away, okay?" Ash said sternly, cutting off the Box Ghost mid sentence. The sternly pissed off look on the boys face didn't make the Box Ghost want to stay and question anything. Sulking, he turned and began to float into the night sky.  
"Will nobody ever fear my powers of cardboard cutlery doom?" A tear fell to the ground before the Box Ghost vanished into nothingness. Ash just let out a very heavy sigh.  
"This town is fucked up." He concluded as he stood up, walking out of the bushes, brushing himself off, and then heading back to the front door of Fentonworks.

Ash rang the doorbell to Fentonworks many many times before Danny showed up at the door, looking groggy, as though he was about to go to sleep. He didn't seem a bit surprised to see Ash.  
"No, we can't go to the Hospital." Danny yawned as he spoke. "We have to wait until morn-"  
"That's not why I'm here, asshole." Ash retorted, causing Danny to wake up a little.  
"Then what?"  
"Duh, we gotta check the OP Center." Danny just sighed.  
"Dad said no dude."  
"Did your dad tell you that he didn't want you to possibly find out what happened to cause what happened to Jazz to happen?" Ash wore a confident smirk on his face, Danny, on the other hand, just looked puzzled.  
"That didn't make any sense, you know?" Danny stated. Now it was Ash's turn to sigh.  
"Just take me into the goddamn OP Center." Danny yawned again and shrugged.  
"Alright, whatever." He grabbed Ash by the wrist, pulling him in, and closing the door behind him. "Going Ghost!" On Danny's verbal command, a white circle surrounded the two boys, transforming them both into translucent ghosts.  
"Whoa, so this is what it feels like to be a Ghost." Ash blabbered excitedly. "I could spy on SO many girls this way." Danny rolled his eyes.  
"Believe me, it gets boring after awhile. Now c'mon." With that, Danny jumped into the air, leaping into the ceiling, touching down on the floor of the OP Center. Before Ash could enjoy his new ghostliness anymore, Danny willed the powers to be gone, and with that, both were reverted back into solidity. Ash dusted himself off for whatever reason.  
"So, why don't you ever use your powers for personal reasons? You know? Cheat on tests? Girls locker room? Sam's room?" Danny facepalmed.  
"For your information, I used to do that. But since they've put me on the air, I can't. You think they'd show that sort of thing on Nickelodeon?"

* * *

Back at the Spirit Detectives apartment, Yusuke, Jenny, Jimmy, Timmy, Mac and Bloo had all decided that it was time for a midnight snack. Or in the case of Chef Yusuke, a midnight meal.  
"Alright guys," Yusuke announced, walking into the living room, where everyone else was seated, from the kitchen. "Dinner is served." He held on his hands a silver platter, on which was a very large meal of roast beef, drinks, and a motor oil shake for a certain robot in the group. Yusuke beamed at his accomplishing meal as everybody's mouth began to water.  
"Looks great, Yusuke." Bloo said.  
"Totally. I'm gonna stuff myself!" Timmy agreed.  
"He actually made me an Oil Shake." Small robotic hearts had appeared in Jenny's eyes.  
"Yup." Yusuke said, grinning from ear to ear. "Now let's eat this...HOLY SHIT!" Yusuke threw his hands up in the air, which caused the silver platter full of food, silverware, drinks, and condiments to go flying into the air. "FOURTH WALL BREAKING SENSE TINGLING! MUST OBLITERATE!" The sound of several people in the room clearing their throats brought Yusuke out of his own little world, as he looked over, seeing the dinner that he had just created was now plastered, in some form or fashion, on the faces of everyone else in the room. "Awww...shit. Sorry guys. Just remind me to punch Danny the next time I see him."  
The room filled with a collective sigh.

* * *

Danny was working a bunch of knobs and switches that were gibberish to Ash, though the latter was too busy watching the many many screens to notice the operator. Eventually, Ash came across something that caught his eye.  
"Rewind and freeze it right there." Ash commanded. Danny obeyed. "Check this out dude." Danny looked up, and immediately was repulsed to the point of gagging. For Ash had commanded him to stop on a frame of Jazz changing clothes, and therefore, wearing nothing but her bra and a pair of Bearbert faced panties.  
"Dude! That's my friggin sister! You god damn pervert!"  
"God damn it Danny! I'm not thinking about tits for once. Look at this!" Danny had to fight it, but eventually, he did look at the screen, quickly following Ash's finger. Once his gaze caught what Ash was pointing at, he managed to forget about his scantily clad sister for a moment, the thoughts of disgust replaced by curiosity. "What the hell would you suppose that is, Danny?" Ash asked curiously. He was pointing at what appeared to be a very faint green glow, radiating from inside Jazz's black shirt.  
"I don't know, man. Here, this might help." Danny produced a black sheet of paper out of nowhere, which he promptly held over the image of his scantily clad sister with his left hand, in order to better study the glow on her shirt. After a moment of silence, Ash spoke up.  
"I need to examine that shirt." Ash concluded.  
"And you intend to do that how?" Danny asked.  
"Tomorrow when we go to pick her up." Ash confirmed. "She's probably wearing one of those hospital gowns anyhow. Should be easy to get a peek in the shirt. Particularly in that pocket."  
"Ah..." Danny was silent for a moment. When he spoke up again, his voice tone was serious. "So, yeah. Spill the beans dude. What's going on between you and my sister?" Ash was silent.  
"What the hell do you mean? There's nothing going on between me and Jazz. How many times do I have to tell you assholes that?" Danny just sighed heavily.  
"So if any of us had been in Jazz's shoes today, you would have acted the exact same way? If Yusuke passed out, you'd threaten to kill the paramedics if he wasn't okay? If I'd passed out, you would have worried about it to the point of checking the OP Center to figure out what happened?" Ash stared at Danny in shock. It took him a very long time, but again, he shrugged it off.  
"Of course, dude." Quickly, he attempted to change the subject. "Now come on, let's get out of here. I think I heard your parents ridiculously loud RV pull in." At first, Danny thought Ash was just trying to cover, but upon listening for a moment, he was right. Quickly, Danny grabbed Ash by the wrist.  
"Goin' ghost!" Once again, the two became intangible, and a moment later, they were transported through the floor and quickly out the door on Fentonworks, into the bushes across the street where Ash was hiding earlier. Once again, at Danny's will, the two became tangible again.  
"Well, thanks a bundle Danny." Ash said, standing up, and attempting to leave as quickly as he could. Danny, however, stood up, grabbing him by the shirt.  
"Not so fast. We're not done yet." Ash seemed pissed.  
"There's nothing between me and your sister dude. Okay, so maybe I don't hate Jazz anymore, but she's still an uptight bitch who has her nose shoved into her school work."  
"Right, and one who spends half her time worrying about you!" Again, Ash had nothing to say. He was flabbergasted by the situation.  
"She... she does?" Ash stuttered, to which Danny nodded.  
"What, are you COMPLETELY retarded?"  
"Maybe...I'll see you tomorrow dude." Ash just jerked away from Danny, and began to walk back to his apartment. Danny spoke quietly as Ash walked away.  
"Oh, Ash." Danny said quietly to himself. "That was all the confession I needed." He smirked. "Bingo." With that, he walked back across the street, reentering Fentonworks through the front door.

* * *

Ash opened the door to his shared apartment, closing and locking it behind him. "Hey guys, I'm ba-" The young spirit detective cut himself off when he saw the mess that was being cleaned up. All eyes fell upon Ash, and Ash's eyes fell upon everyone else. After a long, long silence, Ash spoke up. "Okay, what the fuck happened here? Hard party? Premarital sex? Jenny needs an oil change? What?" At the sound of Ash's voice, Yusuke came barging into the room from the kitchen. He was very shaky and seemed as though he was on the verge of a mental breakdown.  
"H..hey man..." Yusuke said very shakily. "You seen Danny? C...Cause I'm gonna...kick the shit out of him." Yusuke let out a high pitched wail and retreated back into the kitchen." Ash just sighed and looked to Jenny.  
"He heard Danny break the fourth wall, didn't he?" Jenny nodded silently.  
"FENTON!" Yusuke screamed from the kitchen. Another collective sigh filled the room.

* * *

The next morning. 10:17 AM

Riku walked through the halls of the Central Dimension with his head hung low. "I hope I didn't worry her too much." He monologued to himself as he checked each and every door he came to. The one he was looking for was around here somewhere. He sighed to himself, shaking his head. "Chin up, Riku. She's going to love the surprise. At least, I hope so." The all too familiar feeling of doubt began to enter Riku's head, and the voices he long thought he had pushed away began to return.  
"But what if she doesn't?" Questioned the first voice.  
"Yeah, what if she rejects you?" Came a second.  
"What if-" A third began to speak, but Riku just shook his head.  
"I'm not listening to you guys anymore." He smirked confidently as the voices were pushed away. Though the doubt would always linger in the back of his mind, he had learned to control it. What he couldn't control, were the whispers. These voices still whispered to Riku, flooding his mind with stories of sweet nothingness and doubt. For the moment, however, he was able to shake them away, as he found the door he needed.  
"There you are." Riku smirked to himself as he opened the door, jumping through the portal in front of him, and slamming the door behind him, causing the nameplate on the door to jiggle slightly.  
The nameplate that read 'Amity Park'.

* * *

Yusuke's crappy blue Chevy Nova pulled out of the apartment's back parking lot, and began to speed toward the hospital.  
"Hey, I know you're anxious to shut Ash up about all his worrying, but MAYBE you should obey the speed limit..." Danny said meekly to Yusuke.  
"Even though I still have an irresistible urge to punch the fuck out of you...you're right." Yusuke said, through gritted teeth.  
"Whatever. Just slow down." Danny repeated. As Yusuke started to slow down, he noticed someone exiting the jewelry store on their right, coming to a sudden stop as he got a good look at the person.  
"What the...Riku?!" Yusuke's eyes were as wide as dinner plates. "What the HELL is he doing here?!"  
"...He likes jewelry?" Danny shrugged. "Who's Riku?" he proceeded to ask.  
"An ally of ours...he's SUPPOSED to be with Enma." Jenny commented. "There's no way Enma doesn't know about him leaving."  
"Why don't we just ask him what's going on?" Danny suggested. A few muttered agreements later, the car pulled up to the sidewalk. Immediately afterward, Ash and friends stepped out.  
"Riku," Ash spoke up first, causing Riku to turn his head to see who was calling his name. His expression immediately turned to one of 'Oh shit' shock. "What're you doing here man?"  
"Umm..." Riku fumbled with the words for a moment. "I...like jewelry?" Riku chuckled hopelessly.  
"See, I told ya so." Danny said confidently, but nobody else was convinced. Mostly of the group, Yusuke seemed to be catching on. He walked up to Riku, with a curious sneer on his face, noticing that one of Riku's hands was behind his back.  
"What'cha got back there, huh? HUH?" Yusuke poked Riku in the chest accusingly. The latter timidly backed away.  
"Uhh...nothing." There was silence. "Well...I gotta go. Later guys." Riku turned and ran away as fast as he could, before anyone could stop him, although everyone was able to get a good look at what he had behind his back; A small, square jewelry box. There was more silence, as the four looked on in curiosity.  
"You don't think he's gonna..." Ash trailed off.  
"Nah." Everyone said in Unison after a moment of silence. With that, the four jumped back into Yusuke's crappy blue Chevy Nova, speeding off toward the hospital.

* * *

"Motoko! Report!" Wayne shouted into the communicator. "I can't take this anymore...so many fucking stupid humans..."  
"Forgive me master, I haven't been able to find it exactly just yet." Motoko sighed.  
"What do you mean by that?!" Wayne said, his eyebrows raised.  
"I'm picking up on a fire-based energy signal. It seems to be coming from the hospital. Shall I go investigate?" Motoko asked.  
"The hospital, eh...? No, I'll see to it personally." Wayne said, seeming to stare off into space.  
'Why would it be there...?' he thought, not even aware that Motoko had ended the communication.

* * *

As Yusuke's car pulled to a complete stop in the closest available parking spot, Ash immediately forced the door open and began his march toward the front desk. Danny was not far behind him. Seconds after Danny had exited the vehicle, Yusuke, Jenny, Mac, and Bloo had also exited. What none of them noticed, however, was the familiar redhead who followed them not even twenty feet away.  
"Hmm...could they know about that fire energy as well?" Wayne asked. "There's no way this can be the Spirit Stone...the energy would be INTENSE if the stone was here." Wayne pondered for a moment, but then realized that the Spirit Detectives had already gone inside. though still curious, he shrugged it off for now and followed the heroes through the front door.

* * *

Ash and company walked up to the front desk, being greeted by a young, female receptionist. "We're here to see Jasmine Fenton." Ash spoke when the girl looked up from her desk. She nodded, and then punched a few numbers into her computer before responding.  
"Jasmine Fenton," She repeated. "Her room is on the Third Floor, room number Forty-Six D."  
"Thank you." The whole gang said in unison. The receptionist just nodded and looked back to her computer as Ash and company made their way to the stair well on the left side of the lobby.

* * *

When the last of the Spirit Detectives disappeared up the stairwell, Wayne began to make his way in the same direction. Apparently, however, he had miscounted heads when he was doing his scouting, and a moment later, he felt the strong grip of Yusuke Urameshi's hand on his shoulder.  
"Not very sneaky, are you?" Yusuke smirked, speaking to Wayne as he tightened his grip on the villain's shoulder.  
"You dirty little-" Was all Wayne had time to say before he was lifted from his feet, and flung across the lobby with one one-armed throw from Yusuke. The double doors crashed to the ground as Wayne was sent flying out into the courtyard, and Yusuke was running out not a second later.  
The young receptionist just sat there, watching all of this in awe and fear.

* * *

"Hey, where's Yusuke?" Jenny pondered after the group had made it about halfway up the second flight of stairs. Everyone looked around for a moment, before Ash spoke up.  
"We were being followed." he said in realization. "By Wayne."  
"What the hell is Wayne doing here?!" Mac nearly shouted.  
"Probably here to try 'heating things up'." Ash said, eyes wide. "Danny, go make sure Jazz is okay! I'm gonna go find Yusuke!"  
"Right!" Danny said, continuing to sprint up the stairs.  
"Wait, Ash!" Mac called, as Ash turned and started heading back downstairs. "We're going with you!"  
"No! Motoko might be up there already...if she is, Danny's gonna need some help fighting her." Ash instructed. "Besides..." he said, his eyes narrowing angrily as he continued. "This won't take long." Before he could go any farther downstairs, though, Yusuke's voice cut in on his communicator. "Hey Ash, I'm sure you sensed Wayne too...just go find Jazz, man. I've got this."  
"You sure?" Ash questioned.  
"Yeah. Go on man." Yusuke reassured.  
"Alright...watch yourself, Yusuke."  
"Right." And with that, the communication ended. Ash turned back around and dashed upstairs, his friends following him less than a second later.

* * *

Meanwhile, Yusuke stood staring down Wayne, who spoke up after a minute of the stare down.  
"You'd better have a DAMN good reason for interrupting my search, Urameshi." Wayne growled.  
"Search? You're not here following us?" Yusuke seemed genuinely surprised.  
"Of course not, you idiot." Wayne retorted. "I only have two reasons for EVER leaving my hideout: to search for the Spirit Stone, or to kill pretty boy singing sensations like that dumbass Chip Skylark."  
"The one you totally DIDN'T kill?" Yusuke smirked.  
"He was kissing that girl with the flaming hair. I HATE people having adult-oriented fun." Wayne groaned.  
"You hate a lot of things. You're probably gonna hate this too." Yusuke continued to smirk as he wordlessly fired a Spirit Gun at Wayne. Having no time to evade it, Wayne simply threw his arms up in an x formation to shield himself. This succeeded in protecting him from the blast, but left his arms numb. He simply moaned as he let his arms drop, sprinting in Yusuke's direction not even a second later. This action only slightly caught Yusuke off-guard, but not so much that he couldn't retaliate with a half-hearted right hook to Wayne's currently-defenseless jaw. Wayne stumbled back about ten feet, clutching his jaw with his left hand.  
"You bastard..." Wayne muttered.  
"Ash may be willing to let what you've done slide on account of you being 'possessed' or some shit...but I'm not." Yusuke's eyes narrowed to near slits as he finished speaking.  
"And you honestly think you can do something about that, man? I welcome you to TRY." Wayne grinned evilly as he let go of his jaw.  
"I'll do more than that!" Yusuke shouted suddenly charging Wayne again. This time, however, Wayne was ready, sending a jaw punch of his own, which connected with a sickening crack. Yusuke flew back quite a ways, hitting the ground with an audible thud.  
"You'll do more than that, eh?" Wayne asked, a cocky grin adorning his face. "I'm still waiting, Urameshi."  
"Fuck you…" Yusuke growled, his face covered in shadow.  
"You see…no matter how strong you think you are, I'm FAR stronger." Wayne shrugged. "Shut up." Yusuke said, his face still covered in shadow.  
"It's for your own good, Yusuke…don't pick fights you can't win. The sooner you take my advice, the healthier you'll remain." Wayne smirked.  
"I said SHUT UP!" Yusuke repeated, his face emerging from the shadows. While his face looked physically the same, Wayne could sense, from his eyes and his grin, a greater desire for blood. Without any prior warning whatsoever, Yusuke suddenly slid his red jacket off, then proceeded to rip his shirt to shreds, revealing his bare chest. What was underneath caused Wayne's eyes to widen. Covering various regions on his chest and arms were strange black markings.  
"What…what in the fuck…?" Wayne stammered.  
"This is the mark of the Mazoku…my ancestral dad." Yusuke explained. "It's kinda his gift to me, from generation to generation of my family. Along with that, I inherited his powers. They only seem to come out when I'm at my most intense…"  
"The Mazoku…wait…you're descended from one of the Three Kings?!" Wayne gasped.  
"Yep. Sucks to be you, Williams." Yusuke's grin became more sinister as he slowly walked toward Wayne. "You know, just like being half-human must suck for ya as well." Wayne's eyes widened considerably at this.  
"How did you…?!" Wayne stammered out.  
"How did I know? Please, gimme some credit. With my demon powers unlocked, I can sense a lot more than I could five minutes ago." Yusuke smirked cockily. Wayne just grunted and retook a battle stance.  
"It doesn't make a bit of difference," Wayne grunted through clenched teeth. "I'm still going to kick your ass."  
"Try it." Yusuke retorted, though Wayne had already begun to charge once more. The look on the face of the former turned serious and resolute as he began a charge of his own. In only moments the two would clash once again, and both were ready to tear the other in half.

* * *

Ash and gang finally reached the Third Floor after dashing up a few flights of stairs. Their pace did not slow, however, as they continued a mad dash, skimming through the hallway for Jazz's room. Finally, they came to a white door with the engraving '46-D' in gold letters slash numbers. "There!" Ash yelled, opening the door as quickly as he could, damn near breaking it off of its hinges when he slammed it open. "Jazz!" He looked around the room, only seeing a slightly unnerved Marcus.  
"Do you EVER arrive at a scene like a normal person?" Marcus asked.  
"When there's no drama, yes, but that's neither here nor there. Where's Jazz?!" Ash pointed dramatically at Marcus.  
"In the bathroom...? There's only one other room here, you know." Marcus pointed out. As he finished speaking, Jazz's voice sounded from the closed door.  
"Oh, hey Ash. I'm just about ready to go." she called from the bathroom.  
"Did you dress in the clothes you were in when they picked you up?" Ash asked.  
"Of course. What did you think I was gonna dress in?" Jazz stepped out, continuing as she came out of the bathroom. "These hospital gowns are way too rev—"  
"Take the shirt off!" Ash said, obvious panic in his voice.  
"Wha...?!" Jazz looked flabbergasted.  
"The shirt! Take it off now!" Ash shouted.  
"Ash! Not in front of all these..." Jazz cut herself off, her eyes comically wide as she glanced around the room for a second before continuing. "I'M NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL!"  
"Well that's a shame cause THAT'S NOT WHY I TOLD YOU TO DO IT!" Ash corrected himself mid-sentence. "TAKE IT OFF! YOU'RE IN HUGE DANGER!"  
"Danger?!" Jazz was shocked to hear Ash tell her she was in danger despite the surrounding scenery indicating otherwise.  
"He's not joking, Jazz. He and I saw a recording of that shirt giving off a glow while you were getting ready to put it on..." he looked over and saw Ash's eyes narrow comically.  
"Y'know, you didn't have to tell her THAT much, dude." Ash groaned, getting ready for what he knew would happen.  
"You did WHAT?! You saw me DRESSING?! YOU PERVERT!" Jazz screamed.  
"Seriously. Not cool, man." Marcus stated.  
"Shut it! No one cares what you have to say!" Ash said. "And I only did it cause I've been worried about you, Jazz! I've been a COMPLETE WRECK while you've been in here!"  
"It's true. He has." Jenny stated matter-of-factly. "He hasn't eaten since last night.. I'm willing to bet he hasn't drank or even slept, either."  
"I'll sleep when I'm dead." Ash commented. "Now look, I wouldn't try to embarrass you this much intentionally if I knew you weren't in some kind of danger. Hell, for all I know, that glow Danny and I saw was harmless and you just passed out from exhaustion or something...but I can't rest until I'm sure."  
"Ash..." Jazz smiled. "I'll take it off...if Mac and Bloo look away."  
"Aww, come on! Why do I have to turn away?!" Bloo complained.  
"I know about the picture you have, Bloo...and the only reason I haven't maimed you with the Fenton Peeler is because Ash needs your help to save the dimensional universe."  
Jazz calmly stated.  
"Tch. Fine." Bloo turned around, pouting heavily as he did so. Mac also complied. However, before Jazz could take off her shirt, it started to glow again.  
"What the...?!" Jazz exclaimed.

* * *

Yusuke had easily gained the upper hand in the few minutes that had passed since he had transformed, as evidenced by the fact that he had Wayne pinned against the side of a building, with his left arm pinned behind him.  
"How about this, Williams? What an attempt I made to stop you, right? Gonna poke fun at me now?!" Yusuke almost hissed, as he grinned devilishly.  
"Ugh...go...go fuck yourself, Urameshi." Wayne growled, suddenly lifting his leg with enough force to crack a bowling ball. His sudden move caught Yusuke off-guard, hitting him in the groin and making him let go. Wayne quickly put distance between Yusuke and himself, darting about fifty feet away and turning back to face Yusuke.  
"I bet you thought you'd won when you pinned me." Wayne said, his evil grin slowly returning to his face.  
"The thought had crossed my mind, yes." Yusuke said, returning the grin despite his overwhelming groin pain.  
"Too bad, so sad...no matter how strong you are...even if you ARE stronger than me, there's no man or beast alive who can match my speed." Wayne glared across the street at the demonic Yusuke.  
"Maybe not, but you can't run forever." Yusuke said. "Literally OR metaphorically."  
"What are you talking about?" Wayne's grin once again faded.  
"You must think we're all too retarded to see that you're just running from your own sins." Yusuke started to explain.  
"Again, what the hell are you talking about, Urameshi?" Wayne now sported an angry frown on his face.  
"Damn, you're stupid. You're no different than Toguro was. All you're doing is taking all the responsibilities you once had, and every single person who cared for you, and throwing them all away. You hide behind that bullshit façade of hating all humans and wanting to kill them, but...somewhere deep inside you...you—" he was cut off by the instant closure of the distance between himself and Wayne by the evil redhead, who elbowed him in the face.  
"Shut up! What would you know about me?!" Wayne shouted, once again distancing himself from Yusuke as the half-demon quickly recovered.  
"That proves it. It's all a tough-guy act. Kinda like the ones I used to put on. If you weren't such a horrific jackass, we might've been pals." Yusuke smirked.  
"I don't want to be your 'pal'." Wayne growled. "I just want you to DIE!"  
"Do you? Well then, what's stopping you? I'm OBVIOUSLY no match for ya." Yusuke smirked arrogantly.  
"I told you to shut UP!" Wayne once again charged Yusuke, but this charge seemed to be much slower, as Yusuke started to speak as he readied himself for a counterattack.  
"That's the thing about lying to yourself though, Wayne..." Yusuke cut himself off as Wayne tried to punch him. Tilting his head to the side, Yusuke not only dodged Wayne's half-hearted attack, but he also managed to grab Wayne by the arm, finally continuing what he said. "...It always catches up with ya!"  
He then swung Wayne a hundred and eighty degrees and let him fly, and finally held up his right index finger to do his signature attack.  
"Spirit Gun!" Yusuke shouted, blasting Wayne perfectly in the chest and sending actually crashing through a building. As the dust cleared, it was obvious that Wayne had lost consciousness upon impact, thus signifying Yusuke as the winner of this battle. He walked up to Wayne and looked down at him.  
"Ash, hope you're not as affected by this as I think you'll be..." Yusuke murmured, raising his right index finger once more. "It'll be easier for everyone here if I just kill you now, Wayne."  
However, before Yusuke could fire off his Spirit Gun, Wayne's leg suddenly collided once more with his groin at the same breakneck speed he had applied previously. The redhead was obviously now awake once more.  
"You were gonna shoot me while I was out like a light? You've got some nerve, Urameshi." Wayne growled.  
Yusuke simply replied by flipping Wayne off. "Oh go to hell, Williams."  
"Not yet. I still have some stuff to do on this planet." Wayne said. "Particularly the death of all you humans."  
"Not if I have anything to say about it." Yusuke's hand clenched into a fist as he stared the evil Wayne down. He then charged Wayne as fast as his legs would take him. Before he could throw any punches, however, Wayne suddenly raised his left elbow, and, with force that could be comparable to that of a steamroller, thrust it right into the middle of Yusuke's face. A very brutal crunch sound followed shortly, as Yusuke's nose shattered, spurting blood in many directions. Yusuke doubled back in pain, holding his face. "FUCK!" Yusuke shouted, having not been prepared for such an attack. Wayne smirked, seeing this as his chance.  
"That's what you get, Urameshi." Wayne smirked, as he took a few quick, forceful steps forward, following up with a concrete shattering knee to Yusuke's gut. The latter's head snapped forward due to the force of the blow, coughing up a seemingly unhealthy amount of blood. He fell the ground a moment later, holding his gut, blood almost gushing from his nose. Wayne merely replied with his trademark smirk once again. "Next time, you're a dead man." The villain proceeded to turn around and, despite his cocky finish to the fight, limp away as quickly as his damaged body would move.  
"You…" Yusuke quietly tried to reply moments after Wayne had begun to flee, though when he restarted his statement, his voice was that of a bellowing yell. "YOU FUCKING COWARD!" Another cough that stained the grass upon which he lay red, and Yusuke realized that he had had a pretty good hurtin' placed upon him. "Dammit….This shit hurts." His voice sounded more airy from the nose break that he had acquired at the ass end of the fight. "If only I were near a doctor…." After a moment of dumbfounded pain, however, the proverbial light bulb above Yusuke's head slowly flickered on, and he slowly pulled himself up, turned around, and began to walk toward the hospital. The receptionist at the desk had seen everything had conspired outside of the frame where two very large panes of glass had used to be, completely shocked, not believing what she had just seen. Her mouth was agape as Yusuke, bleeding profusely out of both his nose and, though to a lesser extent, his mouth, stepped through the door frames, limping up to the desk. Had she not been so awe struck by the inhuman battle that had just occurred, she may have noted that his body was now covered in strange, dark tattoos. Still, he was the good guy, or so she assumed, so it didn't matter to her. There was a bit of a silence as the two stared each other down, before Yusuke broke the silence, his voice somewhat airy.  
"Uhh…yeah." There was another small silence. "Can I see a doctor?"  
The receptionist was silent for a moment. "Yeah…sure." Even before the last words escaped her lips, the young girl was falling backwards, hitting the ground behind the desk. She'd fainted. Yusuke just sighed.  
"Son of a bitch…." He mumbled to himself. He looked both ways, shrugged, and then trudged off, now on a journey to find a doctor inside of the hospital.

* * *

Wayne was smirking as he limped into an alley. He grinned from ear to ear as he leaned against a building. He looked back at the street he'd just been on to see if Yusuke had followed him, and when he saw that the coast was clear, he laughed, saying "Got away safely." However, seconds later he vomited blood onto the ground.  
"Did…did he really hurt me that badly?" Wayne wondered aloud, in total shock. "Great going, Wayne. And just what the hell were YOU doing while I was getting my ass handed to me?!" he shouted to the demon known only as Shadow Wayne who was possessing him.

* * *

Ash watched in horror as Jazz turned completely green for a second. Suddenly, she started to laugh, a laugh Danny recognized all too well…  
"It…it can't be…!" Danny shouted.  
"Hiya dipstick!" the voice came from Jazz's lips, but it was undeniably the voice of Ember McClain.  
"Ember?!" Danny was stunned, as was Ash upon hearing Ember's name get announced.  
"No way…that's impossible! I fucking KILLED you!" Ash stated in complete disbelief.  
:"Oh, it's entirely possible…y'see, I sealed a bit of my spectral energy in this." the Ember-possessed Jazz said, reaching into the shirt pocket and producing a guitar pick that was glowing green.  
"That's what the glow was…you're taking over Jazz so you can get revenge on me, huh?! You fucking coward!" Ash shouted, the Rift Sword materializing in his hands as he snarled viciously.  
"What in the hell…?!" Marcus, who had chosen to remain silent up to that point, decided to verbally announce his shock and confusion.  
"Whoa whoa, let's not get too hasty here… I only needed some energy off of this girl. Now that that's been taken care of, we'll just let bygones be bygones…" As Ember finished saying this, she emerged from Jazz's body with a smirk on her pale face. "Time for Ember's grand comeback tour!" she proceeded to laugh as she went intangible and phased through the roof. Ash, still snarling proceeded to completely lose his cool.  
"Oh no you don't! **GET BACK HERE!**" he bellowed. Ash charged at the wall to the room, aiming for the window. Before anyone could say anything to stop him, he jumped headfirst through the glass, shattering it instantly, and falling. A moment of silence occurred, but, once again, before anyone could say anything, Ash's body appeared again, darting straight upward, being carried swiftly on angel wings.  
"What the hell…?" Marcus repeated, though this time it was more of a question than an exclamation. He turned to the rest of the group for an explanation. Jenny responded, without even turning her head to look at him.  
"Yeah, he does that."

* * *

Ember's wicked laugh echoed throughout the daytime sky. "Ha ha ha!" She glanced down, and noticed that Ash was quickly flying in her direction, and her face became serious. "You never cease to surprise me, kid." Before she could ready herself for an attack, however, Ash landed a flying uppercut to the ghost's cheekbone.  
"I hope you enjoy those surprises," Ash yelled as he began his counter attack. "Because I'm full of 'em!" A swift dropkick landed on the top of Ember's skull, but the ethereal villain quickly recovered, tossing her own right hook at Ash, landing hard in his gut. Ash doubled over, seemingly in pain.  
"You've got a little fight in you, boy." Ember smirked cockily. "But you need to listen to me." Ash glanced up, a smirk on his face.  
"I've got a lot more than that." Ash raised his hand into the air, balled into a fist, which caused the Rift Sword to appear. Ember's eyes went wide for a moment, but she was quickly calm again. "Spirit Sla-"  
"STOP GODDAMMIT!" Ember yelled at the top of her lungs, which actually managed to throw Ash off balance. He was silent for a moment, so the former continued. "I'm not trying to kill anyone you fucking moron. I just needed a little bit of energy." She sighed. "You humans are all the same, jumping to conclusions left and right before you really know what's going on. Even Fenton is bad for that, and that kid's half ghost. If I had wanted to kill your little girlfriend, or-"  
"She's not my girlfriend." Ash stated blatantly.

"That's not the point, kid." Ember sighed once again, Ash having illustrated another error that ghosts tended to see in humans. "If I had wanted to kill her, she'd be dead. She's not dead, so get your panties out of a twist and leave me alone." Ash was stunned, and Ember saw this as her chance. She turned around and darted off into the distance, gone before Ash could process a thought of what he had just heard.  
"Hey wait a minute!" Ash yelled, but Ember was already gone. The young spirit detective just sighed, phasing the Rift Sword out of his hand. He turned, and flew back down toward the hospital window. Maybe Danny could offer some sort of an explanation, or at the very least, some insight into what Ember had just told him.

* * *

As Ash entered the hospital window, he could plainly see that Jazz had already woken up. His expression instantly brightened as he noticed that she seemed to be okay, as Ember had said. She also saw him flying into the window and sprinted over to him as fast as her legs would carry her, basically flinging herself into his arms.  
"Whoa, whoa… you act like I was in some sort of danger of losing to Ember!" Ash exclaimed, as Jazz embraced him as hard as she could.  
"I know you weren't…I'm just really glad to see you." Jazz said, not releasing her death grip around Ash's neck. Ash returned her hug as hard as he could, then glanced over at Danny, who simply smirked.

* * *

The four teens, one boy, and one imaginary friend walked out of the hospital, apparently not realizing that the one adult that was with them was, in fact, not with them. As Ash was walking down the front steps, Danny called out to him.  
"Hey Ash!" Danny shouted, causing Ash to turn around. "…Was I right? You know….about last night?"  
"…" Ash turned and looked at Jazz, then turned back around a few seconds later with a smile on his face. "…Yeah. Yeah you were." He said, before turning once more and walking toward Jazz. "C'mon Jazz, let's go get some lunch."  
Danny stood there for a second, before his eyes slanted and he said to himself, smirking, "I KNEW it."  
"Hey…" Jenny said, "Aren't we forgetting something…?"

* * *

Yusuke stood in the doctor's office, wincing in pain and disgust as the doctor poked and prodded him. "Oh come on! When the hell are they gonna get here to check up on me?! YOU OWE ME BIG TIME FOR DOING YOUR JOB FOR YA, ASH! YOU BETTER FUCKING PAY UP!" Yusuke's voice echoed into the distance.


	36. Ghost Busted!

Pokewing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 36: Ghost Busted!  
A Mega-Crossover Fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke.

* * *

(Title) Ghost Busted!  
(Subtitle) Who ya gonna call?!  
(Image) Ash is flying away in terror as a wickedly-grinning Valerie points her gun down at him, ready to fire.  
(Jingle) Synthesizer  
Special Guest: Brian Drummond as Ash's "Visitor"

* * *

After running for a much longer amount of time than he needed to, Riku finally decided to slow his pace to a brisk walk, and then from there, a steady stride, when he was absolutely sure that he had shaken the Spirit Detectives off of his trail.  
"Shew." Riku half sighed, half spoke. "That was a close one." He looked down at the little pink box in his hands. He couldn't help but smile. "Success. Or so I hope." After a moment of letting his mind linger on the possibilities that the contents of this box, he raised his head, looking around. In all of his hustling, he'd not really been paying attention to where he was going. "A park...in Amity Park. Go figure." He had, in fact, stumbled upon a park, and a rather beautiful one at that. The mid afternoon sun glistened off the water of a small pond eloquently, and a slight breeze made the limbs on the trees sway majestically. "A perfect place to bask in a perfect moment!" Riku stated excitedly, plopping himself down on the ground at the edge of the water, gazing at his own reflection in the water. Again, he couldn't help but smile, something that he was doing a lot more as of late. "Man," he said aloud. "I'm proud of myself." He held his smile for a moment, but slowly, it began to shift into a frown, as Riku began to hear those all too familiar voices of doubt in his head.  
"What if she says no?" The first voice questioned.  
"Yeah. She's not going to say yes." There was no question in the second voice. Only a statement, and a firm one at that.  
"Yeah." A third voice agreed with the second one. "She's not going to spend the rest of her life with a villain like you."  
"A villain?" Riku repeated what the third voice had said aloud. "I'm no villain. I've changed."  
"Once a villain always a villain." The third voice argued.  
"Yeah man," a fourth voice chimed in. "You'll never change."  
"You're crowding my head." Riku said, his voice raising as his hands reached up to rub his temples, hoping, to no avail, to ease the pain. "Get out." It was a passive command, not a yell.  
"Why? Does the truth hurt?" That was voice number six.  
"Think about it." Lucky number seven spoke up. "What have you ever done to deserve ANY woman? Let alone her." That was all Riku could take.  
"GET OUT!" That time it was a yell, and a loud one at that. A scream of rage escaped his lips, echoing into the distance. A moment later, the man fell to his knees, staring with hatred into the water, angry at what he saw. A mirror image of him, but with one distinct difference. A pair of blood red eyes stared back at Riku.  
"This is who you are, boy." The image of the young man's former evil self smirked, which caused the real Riku to rage.  
"NOOO!" The latter screamed, thrusting one of his fists into the proverbial face of his mirror image. The evil Riku slowly faded away, rippling away into the water. A few moments later, drops of water began to drip into the pond, but it wasn't raining. The tears began to flow swiftly down Riku's face, as he began to think to himself. "Why?" The voices had departed from his conscious, but they had done their job. "Why do I even think I deserve someone as good as her?" As he wandered that, his mind began to drift, and the thoughts began to flow through his head, almost in a lyrical pattern...

"Help Me" – Alkaline Trio  
*20 Second guitar intro plays*  
Riku walked in total darkness, only a dim light lighting a circle around his feet. He could see nothing at first, looking around, wandering where he was. After about 10 seconds of looking around, different lights began to show up, appearing as large, illuminated squares suspended in the darkness. The young man shielded his eyes from the quick change in lighting at first, but when he lowered his guard, he saw that the lights had dimmed slightly, and that they were now displaying things. Images of his life. He affixed his gaze on the first one he saw.  
'Here you'll find me in between, heaven and hell my dear, where nothing's what it seems.'  
And image of good Riku flashed upon the screen, but quickly, faded from a smiling, bright, blue eyed man, to a red eyed, sneering, evil delinquent. Riku turned his head away quickly, not wanting to remember that part of his life. However, as quickly as he removed the first image from his sight, a second one was already in his face.  
'It's just as well I fear I'm giving you the creeps, and a farewell kiss to go into the unknown.'  
The next image showed the battle of Ash and Riku inside of Demon's Door Cave. Specifically, the end of the fight. When Riku was about to lay the finishing blow on Ash, but Ayumu's tears and accusations of the attackers monstrosity stopped him. He had scared her. She may have been putting up a strong front, but she was afraid of him. It was easy to tell. Riku had allowed Ash to live, and as he had exited Demon's Door Cave, he had very quickly glanced a thoughtful look back at this brave, and kinda cute, girl. As quickly as the look had happened, he had turned away, jumping off into the night, not sure exactly where he was headed.  
The sight of Ayumu's tears did not please Riku, especially since he had been the one to cause them. He once again turned away, but, to no surprise, was faced with another image.  
'Here I'll find you in between, heaven and hell again where nothings what it seems.'  
This time, Ayumu was the focus of the image. It showed her running to a body that appeared to be Riku's. However, when the former got close enough to see the figure in its entirety, she saw nothing but a face and eyes of pure evil. When she stopped and cringed, the face looked confused, its eyes turning blue, and he just smiled at the young woman, not saying a word. After a moment, Ayumu looked relieved, and threw herself into the arms of her lover. The face smiled for a moment, before looking at the real Riku, the one that was watching, as it's face turned back into the evil one, smirking.  
"No!" Riku yelled, or at least, he wanted to, but no sound came from his lips. He didn't even seem to notice, however, as he threw a fist as hard as he could at the illusionary face, although this did nothing but cause it to dissipate into nothingness. The momentum that Riku put into his punch merely pulled the rest of his body foreword, causing him to fall flat on his face.  
*music fades to intro guitar loop for a moment*  
Riku pulled himself up to his knees, and he began to sob, speaking aloud, though very quietly and softly.  
"I don't want that to happen. I don't want to hurt her. I don't deserve her. I don't deserve anything. Everything I touch is destroyed. No!"  
*music cuts back in*  
'And they sing, help me help me won't you? Sing me sing me one last song. Help me help me, somebody help me, save me from myself.'  
*the camera pans out, drawing further and further away from Riku, as he kneels there, motionless. When the camera reaches its furthest point, the last line of the song plays*  
'Take me from this hell.'  
*fade to black*

Riku finally came back into the real world, finding himself face down in the grass, the top of his head inches away from the pond, the tips of his long black hair actually floating on the surface of the water.  
"Ugh. Another flashback." Riku propped himself up with his hands, eventually moving into an Indian-style sitting position. He sat silently for a moment, before an 'Oh shit' look became plastered on his face. Hastily he looked around for a few moments, before becoming thoughtful, then looking into his left hand. A sigh of relief emerged his lips as he lay eyes on that which he was afraid of losing; the ring. Content, Riku stood up, dusting himself off and stretching. "Gotta stay focused." He spoke confidently to himself. "Gotta stay sharp." The young man nodded, to nobody in particular, before using his might to create a rift, and jumping in, on his way back to the Central Dimension.

* * *

Later that night, our heroes were on the move once more, chasing the ever-annoying Box Ghost.  
"If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, I'M SICK OF HEARING ABOUT YOUR DAMNED CARDBOARD!" Ash roared into the night sky.  
"YOU DO NOT KNOW THE POWER OF A CARDBOARD BOX!" the Box Ghost shouted. "It will, shall we say, SEAL your DOOM!" he laughed at his own ridiculously stupid pun.  
"You know what? One more bad pun like that and I'll ram that cardboard right up your ass! How's that?!" Ash decided that he'd had more than enough crap from the Box Ghost, and he showed this fact by doing a lightning fast charging tackle across the sky, pinning the Box Ghost against the nearest building in an instant. This turned out not to be a good idea, however, as he crashed into the window of Casper High's resident ghost hunter: Valerie Grey. The short, slightly chubby African-American teen girl turned around with a jolt.  
"What the HELL?!" Valerie shouted, immediately noticing Ash's large, feathery wings.  
"Oh shit..." Ash moaned, as he got up. "Not one of your better ideas, Ketchum..."  
"You...I've seen you around Danny Fenton! Who are you, and why are you hanging around Danny?!" Valerie immediately whipped out her laser.  
"Whoa, whoa. Put the gun...laser...thing...down. I can explain." Ash stammered. "I didn't mean to crash into your window. This asshole..." Ash held up the unconscious Box Ghost to visually represent said 'asshole', "...pissed me off, so I thought I'd beat the ever-loving crap out of him." At that moment, the Box Ghost regained consciousness, threw up his arms, and tried to shout "BEWARE!" before Ash, with an angry scowl on his face, and not even looking behind him, backhanded him back into unconsciousness.  
"Take THAT. Totally NINJA'D your ass." Ash smirked. "Satisfied? Can I leave now without getting a hole blasted through me?"  
"In this order: no, no, and it'd be more like SEVERAL holes blasted through you." Valerie answered, pointing her gun a little bit closer to Ash with each response. "I'm not the best ghost hunter in Amity Park for nothing, you know. I make my living off of wiping you scumbags out."  
"I think what we have here is a misunderstanding...you see, I'm not a ghost." Ash said.  
"Then why the hell are you able to fly?!"  
"..." Ash looked a bit dumbfounded at Valerie's question. "They're called WINGS."  
"Yes, they are. Humans don't HAVE wings." Valerie's gun edged ever closer to Ash's face.  
"I'm not like most humans." Ash explained. "Besides...this is all just..." Ash looked around quickly before staring back at Valerie. "...A dream. Yep, a dream. I don't actually have these wings. So if you'll just let me go—"  
"Yeah, let me get back to you on that after I shoot your goddamn face off." Valerie started to pull back the trigger, and as Ash saw the ecto gun light up, Ash let out a small "Eep!" of horror, and closed his eyes...just as he felt himself being dragged through the floor by a single hand yanking him by the ankle. As he quickly became tangible again, hitting the floor with a thud, he let out an "Oof!"  
"You can thank me later." Danny suddenly spoke up, grabbing Ash by the hand and phasing him through the building itself, back into the limited safety of the outside world.  
"Whew! And now to get as far away from here as possible!" Danny exclaimed.  
"Uh...yeah. By the way, Danny? No mention of me doing the 'eep', okay? Ash Ketchum does not 'eep'." Ash said, causing Danny to narrow his eyes in boredom.  
"Whatever dude." Danny sighed.  
"Oh, and let's leave out the 'oof' as well."  
"Yeah, yeah..." Danny muttered as they flew off together into the night sky. Unbeknownst to them, they were being watched by a shadowy figure. The familiar dark-haired, demon-possessed beauty immediately opened her wrist communicator and spoke into the tiny receiver.  
"Motoko reporting, sir." she announced, and was greeted by the sinister voice of Wayne Williams on the other end, along with a visual of his evilly-grinning face.  
"I've been expecting your call, Motoko. Have you managed to trail Ketchum?"  
"Of course, sir. I never fail the missions you give me."  
"Aside from finding the Spirit Stone, obviously. Let's do something about that, shall we? Like, I don't know...uh...FINDING IT. There's a thought."  
"Sir, permission to speak freely...?" Motoko sighed.  
"You have three seconds. Use them wisely. I might extend the period of your questioning my authority if the question IN question isn't COMPLETELY RETARDED."  
"Sir, with all due respect, this search has been fruit—"  
"Stop. Three seconds are up...nah, I'm just fucking with ya."  
"Hilarious, sir."  
"Go ahead. For the sake of your continued existence, I would hope you refrain from asking me to help you. Believe it or not, I'm actually DOING something sitting here."  
"Of course, sir. The point is...I can't do this by myself. I would like to request a team of Nightmares to raid Fentonworks. We can then search the Ghost Zone for the Spirit Stone freely."  
"The Nightmares won't raid. You know as well as I do that they're mindless creatures. They even ate the sofa last week. Besides..." Wayne's grin widened. "I have a better idea. We'll go over its details later, though. What did you have to report?"  
"Ash Ketchum made contact with the local ghost hunter, Valerie Gray, as you planned, sir."  
"Hmm hmm hmm...excellent." Wayne laughed an evil, ominous laugh that seemed to echo throughout the apartment he was currently situated in. "Excellent work, Motoko, you may return here now. I'll take care of the rest myself. This is going to be twisted and awesome!" he said as he ended the communication between him and Motoko.

* * *

The next morning, Valerie walked slowly to her locker, still mentally punishing herself for letting her "prey" get away from her. As she reached said locker, she noticed a teenage boy with red hair, a "Hard Rock Café" shirt, and long khaki pants leaning on the locker next to hers, looking like he was about to cry.  
"What's wrong with you?" Valerie asked.  
"Oh, it's crazy...you wouldn't believe me if I told you." the boy said.  
"Wait, don't you have Algebra with Danny Fenton's sister?" Valerie examined him a bit closer. "You're that transfer student from Japan. Wayne, wasn't it?"  
"Yes, that's right. I was followed here by a boy about your age. I needed to find you, because this boy seeks to kill me." Wayne said, putting on his best 'puppy dog eyes'.  
"KILL you?! Why the hell would he want to do that?!" Valerie looked stunned. Wayne was struggling at this point not to grin evilly, as was his usual response to anything he considered a stupid question.  
"This boy, he wants more than to simply destroy me. He's trying to destroy all humans. He hates humanity with a passion, only because he was born different than they were. He's only half human, you see." As Wayne finished saying that, Valerie's eyes widened enormously, as she remembered what Ash had said the night before...  
"Not like most humans..." she repeated the words out loud, and for Wayne, another struggle ensued; this time, he kept himself from laughing. "I know who you're talking about. He crashed into my apartment last night!" Valerie shouted. "Do you know where he's staying?!"  
"Right across the street from that crackpot laboratory...uh...Fentron...Fentonio..."  
"Fentonworks!" Valerie exclaimed, not realizing that Wayne would be familiar with the name more than likely if he knew where Ash lived. "I'll do what I can to stop this bastard. Thanks for the info!" And with that, Valerie ran off as fast as her legs would take her. As she vanished from sight, Wayne suddenly grinned a wide, evil grin, saying "Excellent...the plan's coming along PERFECTLY."

* * *

Ash walked to his apartment alone that same evening, pretending not to notice a certain ghost hunter trailing him as silently as she could through the sky. As he neared his apartment, he suddenly walked further past it, continuing to walk until he got to the local landfill, where he suddenly said "You realize I can sense you following me, right?" to which Valerie just responded by holding still, giving Ash an evil glare when he turned his head casually to look at her. "Seriously, what the hell do you want?"  
"You know why I'm following you." Valerie responded scornfully. Ash just sighed.  
"Somehow, I don't think I would have asked why you were doing it if I knew why you were doing it."  
"I'm here to send your mess up your evil plans." The Ghost Hunter responded, as though Ash hadn't even said anything. This caused the latter to arch a brow.  
"MY Evil-" was all Ash had time to blurt out before he was forced to dodge a shot from Valerie's laser pistol thingy. He tried to say something a second time, but was once again forced to make a quick dodge roll to the side. Valerie showed no signs of slowing down in her assault either. Ash backed up as best he could, given the uneven terrain. He suddenly fired a Spirit Gun in Valerie's direction, though it contained next to none of Ash's usual power. It struck Valerie in the chest, and despite being so weak, it did manage to knock her slightly off-balance, though she quickly gained her bearings.  
"Listen to me! I'm not the ene—" Ash was once again interrupted by a blast from Valerie's ecto gun.  
"I don't really give a damn what you have to say! The guy you've been hunting this whole time has blown your cover, demon!" Valerie shouted.  
"Oh god...Wayne, right?" Ash asked, slapping his forehead with his right hand.  
"You made the mistake of letting him live long enough to warn the best ghost hunter in Amity Park about you!" Valerie pointed her gun right at Ash.  
"Have you ever got it wrong. Wayne's the bad guy, not me." Ash stated flatly. "And I'm NOT trying to kill him! I'm trying to SAVE him!" Ash threw his arms up in frustration. "I mean...yeah, I've WANTED to in the past, but I couldn't live with myself if I willfully took a life." This actually got Valerie to lower her gun a tad.  
"This is just one of your tricks..." Valerie said, looking away, before raising her gun again.  
"If I'm lyin', I'm dyin'. I swear...my heart beats like yours does: for justice." Ash said. Will you at least give me a chance to prove that I'm not a bad guy?"  
"..." Valerie stared on intently before silently squeezing the trigger on her ecto gun. As the blast fired, Ash easily dodged out of the way, but watched in horror as the blast was heading toward a couple of middle school kids who were playing about forty feet away. In a flash, Ash was in front of the kids. The blast connected with him, causing him to shout out in pain. Valerie instantly dropped her ecto gun and hovered down to Ash's level with a horrified expression on her face.  
"Oh my God! Are you okay?!" Valerie asked, while simultaneously thinking 'This guy's fast...he could have taken me down at ANY TIME, but he didn't...is he telling the truth?'  
"You guys okay...?" Ash asked the two kids, smiling. The first, a tall black-haired boy nodded, as did the shorter redheaded boy.  
"You guys need to get out of here..." Ash told the two boys, who immediately nodded and ran off.  
"Why did you...?!" Valerie asked, still in shock at what had just unveiled before her very eyes.  
"I told ya...I'm not the bad guy...why don't ya go ask Wayne if he'd jump in front of two middle school kids?" Ash said indignantly.  
"I..." Valerie cut herself off, lowering her head. "Start talking."  
"Well, it's like this..." Ash started to explain, as a certain evil redhead listened in on their conversation, frowning.  
"Damn...plan B it is, then." Wayne said. "Nothing will stop the murderocity of this fight between them." After a few seconds of silence, he pulled out a tape recorder, hitting the record button and speaking into the microphone. "Note to self: make murderocity a word when I kill all humans."

* * *

As classes let out for the day, Valerie immediately headed to her locker, and sure enough, Wayne was standing there.  
"Hey there." Wayne greeted her. "Did you find that demon boy?"  
"He's no killer, I found out that much by watching the guy after our fight." Valerie said coldly. "You lied to me."  
"..." Wayne stood there feigning shock.  
"I don't take kindly to liars, you son of a bitch. Tell me the truth, NOW." Valerie stated, her eyes narrowing to slits. As she finished, Wayne let out a monosyllabic chuckle.  
"You couldn't handle the real truth. Most of what I said is true, anyway. Ash is half-human, that's the gods-honest truth, and he IS trying to kill me. But what I might have forgotten to tell you is..." Wayne cut off, his eyes appearing to take a reddish glow as he suddenly grinned wickedly. "I'm as bad as they come. I'M the one trying to destroy you pathetic humans. It took everything I had not to crack up when I told you that sob story yesterday."  
"By real truth...are you talking about the other dimensions? Ash told me about it, so you can't shock me with that."  
"I know, woman. I was there. I heard every word that little bastard told you. NOTHING escapes my knowledge, when it has to do with me anyway." It was Valerie's turn to stand there in shock, the only difference between her shock and Wayne's being that hers was real.  
"So...what are you gonna do?" Wayne said, after a minute of staring up at the ceiling of silence. "You gonna shoot me with the gun in your backpack? Not a good idea."  
"Give me one good reason why it isn't." Valerie finally spoke up.  
"Because...if you reach for that gun, I'll order my servant to kill your father." Wayne's grin widened immensely.  
"What did you...?!" Valerie near-stammered out, her eyes as wide as dinner plates.  
"I didn't stutter like you did, my dear...how do you think I found out about you in the first place? My servant Motoko is most excellent at doing things without anyone's knowledge. It's how I know where that little fucker Ash lives in the first place. It's how I'm able to keep my eyes on Amity Park as a whole. And now..." Wayne trailed off, his grin widening. "It's how I've got you working for me to kill Ash Ketchum. You WILL do this one thing for me, won't you?"  
"..." Valerie looked away for a few minutes.  
"..." Wayne was silent as well, his grin slowly fading as he raised his left arm and pressed a button on his wrist communicator. "Yeah, Motoko? It's me."  
"No, wait!" Valerie's head snapped back toward Wayne, panic in her eyes. "I...I'll do it. Just don't hurt my dad..."  
"Good girl." Wayne quipped. "Sorry Motoko, false alarm. Continue to keep a close watch on Damon Gray, and I'll contact you if anything else comes up."  
"Understood, master." Motoko nodded, and the communication went dead.  
"Now that we know who's in charge..." Wayne smirked. "Here's what I want you to do..." As Wayne began to explain his evil plot to Valerie, he failed to notice a certain raven-haired, red-jacket clad Spirit Detective eavesdropping on his conversation.  
"I see..." Yusuke whispered to himself. "So he wants to play it like that, eh?"

* * *

Ash, Danny, Sam, and Tucker all sat down outside of the Nasty Burger, not so much to eat as just hang out.  
"So, did you guys actually get to see the new Dead Teacher?" Ash asked, a bored look on his face.  
"Obligatory Space Chapter? Yeah. It blew." Tucker commented. "It was as bad as Jason X."  
"Well, duh...it was in SPACE." Sam rolled her eyes. "Cardinal rule of horror movies: do NOT put your movie monster in outer space!"  
"So if I ever make a horror movie...I'll remember that." Ash spoke slowly.  
"Damn right you will." Sam smirked.  
"By the way...what you said happened with Valerie last night...you think it'll happen again?" Danny asked.  
"Nah. I told her the REAL truth...you know, that You-Know-Who's a bastard who probably still thinks I'm out to kill him."  
"You mean Wayne?" Sam and Tucker chimed in simultaneously.  
"Yeah..." Ash trailed off for a second, then his eyes widened and he said "Wait, what?!"  
"We know, Ash." Sam said. "It wasn't hard to figure out based on the way you act when he's around."  
"Fair enough." Ash said, looking away for a minute. "I guess I'd better fill you two in on the details, then." But as Ash got ready to explain, he looked up and saw Yusuke running toward the Nasty Burger. "Huh? Yusuke?"  
"We got a problem, Ash...a fairly big one at that!" Yusuke said, then looked over at Sam and Tucker. "You guys mind going to order something while I talk to Ash about it?"  
"They know, man. They know Wayne's the bad guy. I'd be surprised if Jazz doesn't already know as well." Danny explained.  
"Okay, well that saves us a minute. Wayne's blackmailing Valerie Gray. He's threatening to kill her dad if she doesn't fight you to the death."  
"Shit..." Ash mumbled. "Okay, we need a plan. Obviously, he sent Motoko to watch Mr. Gray."  
"Wait, why would he want Valerie to fight you?" Sam asked. "It's not like she has superpowers."  
"That's just it. I already know that. If I fight her, I'll more than likely end up killing her." Ash sighed. "And if I don't, she'll kill me and end up at a point of no return. Either way, Wayne wins. If only she realized he'd off her dad anyway..."  
"..." The four friends sat (Or in Yusuke's case, stood) in thought for maybe a minute before Danny piped up.  
"Isn't it obvious? We just keep Motoko from carrying out her mission."  
"Yeah, but we need to keep constant watch out for Mr. Gray. Wayne won't just call off Motoko because we thwart his plan ONE time." Yusuke countered.  
"Why not have Jenny watch him after today? We can make up an excuse for her to remain absent from school, and Valerie's apartment isn't TOO far away from our place." Ash explained.  
"That could work, actually...we'll need to see if Jenny's up for it." Yusuke said.  
"Of course..." Danny trailed off. "...That means we're going to have to explain things to Valerie's dad."  
"That's true...otherwise he's gonna wonder what the hell a robot's doing outside of his apartment." Yusuke stated.  
"True…" Ash trailed off, seeming to be lost in thought. "Well, I'm gonna head back home…"  
"Why? It's only 5:45, man." Tucker protested.  
"Because…I'm sensing something or someone nearby...it's best I get into a fight with whatever it is away from an area with a lot of people, know what I mean?" Ash explained.  
"Ohhh…" Tucker realized why Ash had gotten silent when he saw Valerie peek her head solemnly around the corner. He noticed that she looked like her world was coming to an abrupt end.  
'Poor Valerie…' Tucker thought. 'This Wayne guy needs a kick in the balls. I hope Ash takes him out ASAP.'  
"See ya guys later…oh, and Yusuke?" Ash turned his head.  
"Yeah? What is it, man?" Yusuke raised his head as he spoke.  
"You might wanna forget what we said. Go take care of that thing." Ash eyes narrowed to slits. "Put the boots to it…maximum style."  
"Ah, make it wish it never fucked with us, right?" Yusuke asked, then smirked. "I can do that. I can do that easily."  
"Good. Make it so." Ash returned the smirk, as he jogged off toward Condo Ketchum.  
"I'm off now too, guys. See ya in a bit." Yusuke cracked his knuckles and ran off as well.  
"So…anyone wanna get some burgers? I mean, since we're here and all…" Danny trailed off.  
"TUCK MAN WANT MEAT!" Tucker bellowed.  
"Make mine a veggie burger. God have mercy on your pathetic soul if it isn't a veggie burger, Danny Fenton!" Sam threatened.

* * *

Ash suddenly came to a stop a couple of miles after he had jogged away from the Nasty Burger.  
"You can stop trying to tail me." Ash said calmly. "I've known you were following me since we were at the Nasty Burger, Valerie."  
"It's that obvious, huh…?" Valerie said, walking out from behind the fence that had separated her and Ash. "Look, I'm sorry about yesterday, but…"  
"I know. You don't have a choice this time. Wayne's an idiot if he thought I wouldn't figure it out. He's using Motoko to hold your father's life at stake in case you wuss out of this fight. Am I close?"  
"Forgive me…" Valerie said, pulling out her ecto gun.  
"Wayne is gonna face justice very soon, Valerie." Ash said, once again perfectly calm, before jumping over the blast Valerie reluctantly fired at him. "Yusuke told me the whole thing; he overheard that braggart telling you about how he was holding your father hostage."  
"Not like it matters anyway. There's not a thing you and your friends can do to stop him from doing that." Valerie shed a tear.  
"She's right, you know!" chuckled the voice of Wayne, as he also stepped out from behind the fence. "There isn't a damn thing you guys can do about it. All I have to do is switch on my communicator, say 'Do it', and it's over."  
"Like I'm going to let you do that!" Ash shouted, firing a Spirit Gun wordlessly at Wayne, which ended up knocking the redhead back. Wayne didn't have time to recover before Ash's left foot had been planted firmly in his jaw. He stumbled backward several feet before thudding up against a wall.  
"Valerie…" he spoke up after a few seconds. "What are you pissing around for?! Start fighting Ketchum, you stupid bitch!"  
"She doesn't have to fight me. You won't be alive long enough to give Motoko that order." Ash said coldly, his face partially hidden in shadow.  
"What…?!" Wayne's eyes widened. He had been freaked out by the much colder tone in Ash's voice…in fact, he could swear that the voice that came from Ash's mouth was an entirely different person's voice…  
"I said…" Ash started again, raising his eyes to the point where they were visible. Wayne's eyes widened even farther when he saw that Ash's eyes had now turned blue.  
"Huh?! Who…who are you?!" Wayne shouted.  
"Obviously not the person you were speaking to a second ago." Ash's "Visitor" spoke up, smirking. Valerie, who had stood by previously, was now wide-eyed and slack-jawed.  
"What the hell's going on?!" Valerie questioned, her eyes refusing to return to their normal "height" for the time being.  
"Now I understand…" Wayne grinned evilly. "Ash wasn't so much behind that power surge a couple of months back as you were. But if you're not technically Ash, then who are you?"  
"Like I said once before, dead men do not have the privilege of hearing my name." the visitor spoke once more, his own grin forming as he planted Ash's right foot in Wayne's stomach, succeeding in knocking the wind out of him completely. Wayne didn't have time to recover just yet, however, as the visitor repeated this action…not once, not twice, but three times, each time more painful than the last.  
"Compared to that fool from the future, you're nothing, boy. I almost feel remorse for what's going to happen here momentarily." The visitor let out a dry laugh.  
"…Damn you, what makes you think you're better than me?!" Wayne spoke up after several seconds of silence from all three parties present in the area.  
"Because I know who trained you, child. You don't even BEGIN to match him in power."  
"You…how dare you…I'll show you that I'm every bit as able to defeat you as my master must have been!" Wayne suddenly vanished, reappearing behind the visitor and lunging at him with his elbow outstretched. The visitor simply sidestepped this, yawning.  
"Think before you speak, boy." Seconds after saying this, the visitor had grounded Wayne once more, slamming his face brutally into the sidewalk. "Your master never defeated me. What made you think you could?"  
"…" Wayne remained silent, tears starting to drip from his eyes.  
"You can't fool me with those tears, boy. You might have fooled Ash into thinking that you wanted help, but you can't fool me."  
"Don't…don't kill…" Wayne stammered.  
"Oh PLEASE. Don't kill you?! Do you have ANY idea how many human lives you've taken?!" the visitor spoke up, a scowl on his face. "ANY idea at all?! They didn't deserve to die, but you killed them anyway! What honestly makes you think you deserve to live after the sins you've committed?!"  
The air was thick with tension all around the three people who were present. After a few more tension-filled moments of silence, the visitor raised his hand and the Rift Sword materialized.  
"No answer, I see…nothing you say would've convinced me anyway. Farewell." Before the visitor could swing the sword downward, however, Valerie's hand shot out and grabbed the sword.  
"…Let go." The visitor said in a chilling tone.  
"No. What gives you the right to decide who lives and who dies? I don't know who you are, but the responsibility of Wayne's death will fall on Ash once he comes to." Valerie spoke harshly toward the visitor, who stood there motionless for a minute, apparently taking in what Valerie had just said.  
"Girl…this man tried to hold your father hostage, threatening to kill him if you didn't cooperate and try to kill Ash here…knowing this, you'd still let him walk away from this encounter?"  
"Yes." Valerie answered.  
"…He was wrong, then. The human race is definitely on the right track with people like you around. I'll do as this lady asks, Wayne…but if you continue to threaten her father, I WILL end you, you little worm. Do I make myself clear?" the visitor asked, allowing Wayne to get to his feet. Wayne simply nodded, in shock that he was being let go. There was another moment of silence as Wayne watched Ash's eyes revert to their original brown color.  
"What the fuck just happened…?" Ash asked, as he blinked several times.  
"I wish I knew." Valerie said, letting go of the sword finally as Ash's arm dropped. Ash's eyes began to widen as he realized what had just about happened.  
"Oh good god…did I nearly kill Wayne…?!" Ash asked, in total shock.  
"It's okay…he's still alive, as you can see…" Valerie explained.  
Wayne stared down Ash in shock for a few seconds, before he shakily raised his wrist communicator to his lips and stammered out "D…do it…"  
"NO!" Valerie shouted, but much to her surprise, Ash smirked.  
"I was waiting for that, you idiot." Suddenly, a voice cut through from Wayne's communicator, but it wasn't Motoko.  
"Yeah, Motoko can't come to the phone right now."  
"Urameshi?!" Wayne growled.  
"Of course. I overheard you in the hall earlier today, jackoff. So Ash and I decided to ruin your fun. I'd say Motoko's halfway to the local landfill by now."  
"Good job, dude." Ash cheered.  
"Thanks. It was pretty damn fun, I gotta say. Meet ya back at Condo Ketchum." Yusuke then went silent, as the feed had died due to Wayne shutting off the communicator, a vicious scowl on his face.  
"You son of a bitch…I was perfectly content to watch you and Gray here maim and or murder each other, but you just had to go ruin my fun, didn't you?!" he shouted. "I'll get you for this, Ketchum. The next time we meet, you'll wish you'd never been fucking BORN!" as he finished speaking, wings sprouted from Wayne's back and he flew off angrily.  
"And that takes care of that." Ash smirked.  
"You sure showed him." Valerie commented, also smirking.

* * *

The next day at school, Ash was getting a brown lunch bag out of his locker, when Valerie walked up to him.  
"Hey Val." Ash greeted.  
"Look, I don't say this often, but…I was wrong about you, Ketchum. You're a good guy." Valerie smiled, holding out her hand for Ash to shake, which he gladly did.  
"Thanks Valerie…sorry about all that yesterday. I just about lost my shit with that guy taking me over again."  
"Who is that?"  
"I don't know, but if what you told me last night was true, maybe he's not all bad…"  
"Anyway…I just wanted to let you know, Ash…" Valerie trailed off, smiling once more. "I'm on your side, and I always will be."  
"Thanks." Ash said, and as he finished saying it, his communicator went off. "Catch ya later!" He then ran down the hall. Seconds later, Valerie saw Ash fly by the school window and flash her a smirk and a thumbs up, which she returned happily. She then walked off in a lighter mood, a new friendship having been forged through the fires of "war"…


	37. Masters of Disaster

Pokewing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 37: Masters of Disaster!  
A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke.

* * *

The Disclaimer is ON A BOAT MOTHERFUCKER...currently passing by Episodes 1 and 25. Please read.

* * *

"Another night, and Amity Park is all clear." Valerie Gray, the young ghost hunter, monologued to herself, as she glided around the skies of the aforementioned city, searching for anything that might have been a risk to the safety of its' fair citizens. This night, had proven to be fruitless, something that Valerie was okay with, given recent events that had happened in the city. "Well, I suppose it's time to turn around and-"A loud beeping noise cut the young girl off, which caused her to immediately raise her Ghost Radar, scouring it intently. The radar was showing a small blip of light, very close to the center point of the radar screen. "Wait, then that means..." She looked up just in time to see a streak of silver fly across the sky in front of her. Her lips curling into a smirk, she revved her glider, speeding off after the light. "Looks like I get to take one down tonight after all."

* * *

(Title)Masters of Disaster!  
(Subtitle) A disaster of sisterly proportions!  
(Jingle) Synthesizer  
(Image) Ash stands, battle-ready, staring down a shadowy figure and an evilly-grinning Wayne.

Guest Voice: Jennette McCurdy as Victoria

* * *

"Say, Enma?" Ratty's voice was very questioning as he walked into the main lobby of the Spirit World Castle, glancing up to his boss, who was working on some paperwork, such as always seemed to be the case.  
"Yes Rattabald?" Enma knew he hated that name, but it was funny to the reaction on the young rodents face, which he sure enough saw this time. Ratty just sighed, taking it surprisingly well, and then proceeded to ask his question.  
"How long have you known that Ash was the last Kamoa?" Enma stopped what he was doing, hoping that nobody would ever have asked that question. He sighed, pretending to collect himself, as he let his answer escape his lips.  
"All you need to know, my friend, is that I have known for quite a while."

* * *

"Damn it." Valerie was following her radar intently, but, even so, she seemed to have lost the signal of the streak of light she was chasing. "Damn it." The young ghost hunter repeated. "How could I...huh?" She glanced up, and noticed something that puzzled her; a figure with long, flowing silver hair, pale, almost ghostly skin, sitting on the edge of a rooftop nearby. Cautiously, but quickly, she hovered over to the building, touching down off of her glider. The 'thud' her boots made as she landed on the hard surface harder than she had intended, caused the glowing, ghostly figure to turn around, and Valerie almost stopped in her tracks out of shock. This ghost, which had from a distance appeared to be nothing more than a beautiful young woman, now stared a hole through her with bright, blood red eyes. Valerie took her footing, but was still found speechless, and trapped in a staring contest with the ghost. The latter decided to speak first.  
"I've been to a lot of places in this world," The ghost spoke, her voice surprisingly serene. "But I've yet to see somebody follow me like you have. What do you want with me?" It took Valerie a moment to regain herself, but she did manage to speak quickly.  
"I don't answer to ghosts," She rebutted coldly, pulling out her Ecto-Gun and aiming the sights onto the girl. "I eliminate them." She cocked the gun, readying it for fire. The ghost just sighed.  
"Sometimes I wonder about you humans."  
"CAN IT!" Valerie shouted, pulling the trigger, causing a huge beam to come flying out of the barrel, headed right for the ghost girl. Instantaneously, however, her form became translucent, and, still sitting, she disappeared through the roof of the building, causing the shot to go careening off target, hitting the side of the next building over before harmlessly dissipating. "DAMN IT!" Valerie shouted, anger now getting to her. She quickly pulled out her ghost radar. However, after staring at it for a moment, she determined that there was no signal. Distressed, the ghost hunter let out a long sigh, and flew back off into the night sky. What she failed to notice, however, was a female figure exiting the building, and watching her exit, before continuing on her own way.

* * *

The next day, at Casper High School, during lunch block, Ash and friends were exiting the lunch line, having all collected their daily meals, and were deciding on a place to sit.  
"Is it just me or is the lunch room more crowded than usual today?" Ash spoke up, not seeing any tables that had five seats available.  
"No, I think you're right." Yusuke agreed. "We usually have a few spots, but I don't see them today."  
"Hey, what about that table?" Jenny spoke up, pointing to a table off in the corner of the school cafeteria. "There's just one girl sitting there." Ash, Yusuke, Danny and Jazz all turned their heads to where Jenny was pointing, seeing the one girl sitting alone at the empty lunch table.  
"Who is that girl, anyway?" Jazz asked aloud. The person they were looking at was a pale skinned girl, with long, jet black hair parted down the middle. She wore fairly heavy eyeliner, and sported black jeans, a red tank top, and a black zip up jacket. She was also wearing reading glasses, and had a book in front of her, with a tray of half eaten food off to the side of her.  
"I'm...not sure." Danny spoke after a moment. "I don't think I've ever seen her around."  
"Maybe she's new?" Yusuke chimed in.  
"Guys, stop staring." Jazz scolded slightly. "Let's go welcome her to Casper High. She looks lonely."  
"Eh, you guys can do it. Ash said nonchalantly. "I'm not one for meeting new people. It just isn't me." This caused Jazz to give him the death glare, which rendered the former speechless.  
"It wouldn't hurt you to learn some people skills, Ash." Jazz scolded again, this time more seriously, as she grabbed him by the shirt, and began to walk to the table. "You're coming with us." Ash attempted to struggle at first, but knew it wouldn't matter.  
"All right, all right, just let me go, Jesus..." Ash grumbled something under his breath as the gang walked over, sitting down at the table with this new girl, who glanced up when she heard a sound, smiling when she saw people. Her baby blue eyes matched her complexion well, and she seemed to be a very serene person, to the point where even Ash felt more relaxed just sitting down next to her.  
"Uh...hi there." Ash said slowly. The girl turned her head upward to acknowledge his greeting.  
"Hello." the girl said, almost emotionlessly.  
"Well...nice meeting you!" Ash said cheerfully and started to stand up, only to be firmly replanted in the spot he sat down in by Jazz, who gave him another death glare as she did so.  
"We saw you here and we thought you might like some company." Jazz said. "I'm Jasmine Fenton, the guy in the white shirt is my little brother Danny, and these guys..." she trailed off, pointing at Ash, Jenny, and Yusuke, respectively. "...are Ash Ketchum, Jenny Wakeman, and Yusuke Urameshi."  
"Hello." Jenny smiled politely as the five took their seats.  
"'Sup?" Yusuke smirked, sitting next to Jenny.  
"I wasn't expecting anyone to sit over here, to be honest." the girl admitted.  
"Are we bothering you?" Ash asked eagerly. "Cause if so, say the word and we're gone."  
"Ash!" Jazz snapped.  
"Well, I'LL be gone, anyway."  
"The hell you will!" Jazz gave him her infamous Mental Taser once more.  
"Okay already! Just turn that thing off!" Ash griped.  
"ANYway..." the girl sighed. "I don't mind. Allow me to introduce myself, since you all have already had your turn. My name is Victoria Masters. But you can call me Vikki." the girl, apparently named Victoria, said, immediately causing Danny to spit out the milk he had begun to drink.  
"Masters?!" Danny nearly shouted, causing Victoria's expression to become one of complete confusion.  
"Do you know anyone with that name?" Vikki asked, a strange smile appearing on her face.  
"Uh..." Danny trailed off, thinking of what to say. "Why, do you?"  
Vikki nodded. "Actually, I'm looking for someone…a family member. The only one I have left."  
'Don't say Vlad, don't say Vlad.' Danny thought.  
"His name is Vlad Masters."  
'DAMMIT!'  
"Do you know him?"  
"Actually, yeah, we do." Jazz spoke up. "He's old friends with our parents."  
"Is he now…?" Vikki asked. "Do you know where he is right now?"  
"Not right this moment, unless he's at home in Wisconsin." Jazz answered.  
"Thank you, I'll check it out ASAP."

* * *

Later that day…  
"Why the hell did you tell her we knew Vlad?!" Danny shouted.  
"If what she's saying is true, then maybe we can brighten up that old stick in the mud's life by introducing him to a family member he may not know he ever had." Jazz explained.  
"It's Vlad, Jazz. He's not gonna care unless she can help him get Mom away from Dad." Danny sighed. "You care WAY too much about stuff that isn't any of your business."  
"And you care way too little, Daniel Jacob Fenton!" Jazz scolded harshly. "Am I the only one who gives a rat's ass about socializing and making friends around here?!"  
"Gah! The full name of death!" Sam said, as she and Tucker walked up next to Danny. "You must've really pissed her off."  
"…Your middle name is Jacob?" Tucker asked, causing Danny to facepalm.  
"…Yes. Yes it is." Danny said, shutting his eyes in embarrassment.  
"Hello?! We're way off base here!" Jazz interrupted shrilly. "Why can't you be more social?!"  
"Who made you his boss, Jazz?!" Sam stepped in. "Did you not stop to think that this Vikki girl's related to Vlad?! You know, your brother's WORST ENEMY?!"  
"She's got a point." Danny threw up his arms in disgust. "Back off."  
"Whatever…" Jazz sulked for a second, and then stormed off angrily.  
"What the hell's HER problem?!" Danny shouted, punching a locker next to him, causing it to dent.  
"I'm not sure, but I don't think Ash helped her mood any earlier." Tucker commented. Danny just sighed.  
"Whatever. At least she's gone now."

* * *

Jazz and Danny walked in the door to Fentonworks, school being over for the day.  
"I'm going to go find mom and dad." Jazz spoke. "Maybe they can get in touch with Vlad so he can come meet Vikki." Danny responded to this with a very pissed off sigh.  
"Really? You're still on about that? Give it up Jazz. Helping the enemy is a BAD idea." Now it was Jazz's turn to get pissed.  
"Danny, have you ever stopped to think that maybe Vlad is just lonely? Maybe this will help him to become a better person, finding some family."  
"Have YOU ever stopped to think that maybe this girl is just another ally for Vlad? We don't know her, Jazz!" This had escalated into a shouting match, which had caused the parental figures to come into the room.  
"Daniel! Jasmine! What is going on here?!" Jack raised his voice, which was quite powerful, causing both children to come to sort of an attention. Danny just sighed again.  
"Nothing dad. Sorry for yelling. I'll be in my room." Danny began to walk upstairs, the remaining three watching him. When he was out of sight, Jack and Maddie looked to Jazz, who immediately took up her plan of action.  
"Mom, dad, we made a new friend today. Her name is Vikki Masters." Jack spoke up immediately.  
"Masters? I wonder if she is related to Vlad…" Jack became lost in thought, while Maddie and Jazz just sighed.  
"Honey, I think that was the point she was trying to make." This caused Jack to look at Maddie questioningly, then to Jazz, who nodded.  
"Ah, very well then."  
"Right. Anyway, she's been looking for Vlad, and I was wondering if you guys could get in touch with him? Tell him that she's looking for him. We figured he was probably in Wisconsin at this point." A large grin spread across Jack's face.  
"I would be DELIGHTED!" Jack responded gleefully. "I can't wait to hear good ole' Vlad's voice when we tell him he has a relative!" Jack immediately rushed to the phone, picked it up, and happily dialed Vlad's number. After a few seconds, he heard Vlad gruffly say "Hello?"  
"Hey V-Man! How's it going?" Jack greeted.  
"What do you want, you oaf?" After a few seconds, Vlad spoke up again. "I mean, hello Jack…what did you call for?"  
"Seems there's a girl here in Amity Park who says she's looking for ya, Vladdie. Jasmine says her last name's Masters. She a relative of yours?"  
"What? I don't have any relatives... well, aside from my parents, but I haven't spoken to them since the ecto-acne incident."  
"Well, maybe ya had some ya didn't know about. We were thinking maybe you could stop by here in Amity Park and meet her."  
"Look, I don't just have time to go gallivanting around because some poor orphan thinks she can fool me into inheriting my vast fortune! No dice!"  
"But Vladdie…!"  
"End of discussion, Jack! I WILL. NOT. MEET. THIS. GIRL!" Jack then heard Vlad hang up the phone very harshly.  
"What got into him?" Jack asked. "You'd think he'd be thrilled that he might have another relative in this world!"  
"I'm sure Vlad's just in shock."  
"More like he doesn't give a sh-" Danny was interrupted by Maddie harshly clearing her throat. "…Never mind. Going to my room." He then walked the rest of the way up the stairs. Jack walked off shaking his head, and Maddie followed close behind.

"Fine." Jazz said, scowling. "If he doesn't want to meet her willingly, I'll MAKE him meet her."

* * *

The next evening, Jazz and Vikki were racing toward Wisconsin in the Specter Speeder.  
"I wonder why he didn't want to come to Amity Park to meet me?" Vikki wondered aloud, sounding kind of sad.  
"Vlad's a bit…" Jazz paused, trying to think of a word to use for Vlad's description that wouldn't upset Vikki in any way. "…eccentric. Anyway, he's gonna see you whether he wants to or not this time!" Jazz smirked, flooring the pedal on the Specter Speeder.

* * *

Vlad stomped angrily toward his front door, determined to give whoever it was the harshest talking-to he or she had ever had in his or her life. As he swung open the door with a shout of "WHAT?!", Wayne stood on the other side, a look of deep thought on his face.  
"What are you doing here?" Vlad asked, a smirk forming on his face. "Motoko kick you out for Spring Cleaning?"  
"…" Wayne remained silent, seeming to stare intently forward.  
"I said…did Motoko kick you out for Spring Cleaning?!" Vlad repeated, louder than before. Wayne stayed silent. "…Wayne?"  
"I need to…I need to talk…" Wayne said, after several seconds of silence.  
"Why not talk to Motoko?" Vlad suggested. "She follows your every order."  
"Because the demon inside forces her to. She's a mindless drone, Vlad. I need to talk to someone who can think for himself. Someone who won't go on the defensive every time I get near them." Wayne said, the same intense look on his face.  
"Whatever it is, it seems serious…I can't believe I'm saying this, but…come in." Vlad offered. Wayne nodded and stepped inside, allowing Vlad to shut the door behind him.

"Care for a drink?" Vlad asked.  
"Got anything really strong?" Wayne retorted slowly.  
"I would bring up the whole 'You're 16' point, but I imagine you don't care."  
"Ha, true…"  
"Come on, I'll let you 'hit up' my liquor cabinet, as the young folks say…" Vlad opened said liquor cabinet, grabbing a flute and filling it with some vodka.  
"Most people drink that from a regular cup, you know…" Wayne smiled faintly.  
"What is it you young folks say? Oh yeah, 'screw the rules, I have money'!" Vlad laughed slightly as he finished saying that. "Anyway, you have my attention, Wayne. Talk."  
"Something happened the other day." Wayne spoke up after a few minutes. "I got into a fight with Ketchum."  
"So? That's nothing new." Vlad scoffed.  
"True, but it went bad, Vlad." Wayne explained. "Had Valerie Gray not intervened… I wouldn't be here right now… Ash would have finished me off."  
"You're joking, right?" Vlad seemed to be skeptical. "Ketchum? The kid who refuses to kill any human being?"  
"No, I'm not. The Ketchum I fought the other day was a completely different person than the one I've known. Like a whole new, ruthless person. I have no doubts someone else is in there."  
"Why does this bother you? You know this line of work is dangerous." Vlad reasoned.  
"I started to think, after Valerie begged him not to kill me." Wayne reminisced. "Is this really what I want to do with my life?"  
"Why are you thinking that now?" Vlad asked, as Wayne downed the vodka quickly.  
"Because I threatened her father. In spite of that, Valerie intervened on my behalf. Nobody's ever done that for me…" Wayne's eyes seemed to stare beyond the large room, seeming to stare beyond time itself. "Well, there was one person…"  
"Look, I don't pull off the concerned role very well, Wayne, but if I were you, I'd weigh what either path you take would yield you in the long run." Vlad said. "If you're serious about this, then maybe it's best that you get out while you're still young."  
"You could get out too, y'know." Wayne suggested. "Not that I'm going to or anything."  
"No…it's a little late for that, Wayne." Vlad said. "As I said, you're still young. You still have a shot at a normal life. I lost that chance about 20 years ago."  
"Heh, well—" Whatever Wayne was about to say, he never finished, for at that moment, the doorbell rang.  
"You're popular today, aren't you?" Wayne commented, with a bit of a chuckle.  
"Why don't you go down to my lab for a bit while I see who this is?" Vlad asked. Wayne flashed a thumbs up and walked out of the room. Vlad walked briskly over to his front door and opened it.  
"If I've told you damned Fudgy Scouts once, I've told you a thousand times, I DO. NOT. WANT. ANY. GIRL. SCOUT. COOKIES!" Vlad shouted, then opened his eyes to notice Jazz standing at his front door, flinching somewhat. "Jasmine?"  
"Uh…is this a bad time?" Jazz asked, her voice cracking somewhat.  
"No, not at all my dear." Vlad changed his tone very quickly. "Why are you here?"  
"I have someone here with me. She says she's related to you." Jazz explained.  
"Oh, not this again." Vlad slapped his face with the palm of his right hand. "Look Jazz, I already told your father, I'm sick of people coming around claiming to be a long lost relative of mine!"  
"But…"  
"I told you, I don't want to meet her! Sorry you wasted your time, you can go now."  
"No! To HELL with that!" Jazz protested, causing Vlad to gasp and his eyes to widen. This prompted Jazz to continue. "You always go around looking so lonely, so I thought maybe this might help you out a little bit! The least you could do is SEE her, you stubborn son of a bitch!"  
"…Very well." Vlad said after a few minutes.  
"Vikki! He said he'd see you!" Jazz called out. Vikki climbed out of the Specter Speeder and walked up to Vlad.  
"So I hear you're a relative of mine." Vlad said, walking back to his living room along with Jazz and Vikki.  
"Yes. The only one you have left, to my knowledge anyway." Vikki said, sadness slightly present in her voice.  
"Stop right there. I know you're lying. My parents should still be alive." Vlad argued.  
"No…OUR parents are dead. They died three years ago." Vlad stopped dead in his tracks, as did Jazz.  
"OUR parents?!" Vlad nearly shouted.  
"YOUR parents?!" Jazz repeated.  
"Yes…I'm your younger sister." Vikki said, closing her eyes.  
"Sister?!" Vlad shouted again. "Preposterous! I have no sister!"  
"I have a birth certificate and pictures to prove that I am indeed your sister." Vikki explained, pulling out a birth certificate from her backpack, as well as a few pictures, assumedly of her, in various stages of her life with Mr. and Mrs. Masters.  
"…Why didn't they call me?" Vlad asked after several minutes of just staring at the certificate and pictures.  
"You were unlisted, and you never gave them your number or address." Vikki said.  
"What happened? How did they die?" Vlad asked.  
"They were in an explosion. You made Dad proud enough to try his own hand at a ghost portal, but it was faulty. When he fired it up for the first time, it exploded, killing him and Mom instantly. I was upstairs when it happened. Instead of killing me, the explosion did this…" As she finished speaking, two rings formed around Vikki's midsection, transforming her into the same ghost Valerie had seen a couple of nights ago.  
"She's a ghost…" Jazz gasped out.  
"Yes. I am half-ghost." Vikki sighed, changing back seconds later. "I've had three years to try out these powers and see what I can do…and I've gotten pretty good at them, if I do say so myself."  
"Pretty good, you say…?" Vlad pondered after a few seconds of silence. "Why don't both of you have a seat?"

* * *

As Wayne relaxed for a few minutes in Vlad's study, sipping a glass of bourbon, he noticed a wall slowly open up. His eyes widened as he saw who emerged.  
"You…what the hell are YOU doing here?!" Wayne growled.  
"I could ask you the same thing." came the person's reply. As the person stepped into the light, she was revealed to be none other than Janine.  
"There are a million people I didn't want to see today, and wouldn't you know it? The one at the top of the list is the one I see. The universe fucking hates me…" Wayne muttered, taking another drink of his bourbon.  
"Do you even realize WHY I'm here?" Janine face palmed.  
"To piss me off with another 'I won't give up, I'll get my old brother back!' speech?"  
"No…to help you out." This statement caused Wayne's eyes to widen a bit. A few minutes of dead silence were shared between the two siblings, until finally, Wayne broke said silence.  
"…Why? Why the hell would you help me?"  
"Because you're my brother."  
"Oh god damn it, I KNEW IT!" Wayne angrily threw his glass of bourbon against the wall, shattering it into a million pieces and leaving Vlad's rug soaked.  
"No, it's not like that…I don't care what you do…you're still my little brother. I don't want to watch you die…and I'm sure Ash is planning to kill you regardless of the promise he made to me." Janine explained.  
"If you don't want to watch me die, then turn your head…assuming I fail." Wayne countered.  
After a few more seconds of silence, Wayne spoke up again. "Look, this would be counted against you BIG time by the Spirit World. Enma may not seem like much of a threat, until you consider the fact that he can open rifts from, and even TO, anywhere. The Kamoa are the only race supposedly capable of doing that. In addition to that, there's a higher power than Enma—"  
"Two, actually." Janine stated calmly. "The Observers are slightly higher than he is."  
"Oh right, those freaks." Wayne commented back. "Anyway, you may face THEIR wrath, Enma's wrath, AND the wrath of the one being who rules above all…The Overseer."  
"I'm well aware of what will probably happen." Janine said. "I don't fear any of these people, Wayne."  
"You do realize the Overseer is essentially God, right?"  
"Of course I realize that. I wasn't born yesterday."  
"And you still say you want to help me…?" Wayne's expression seemed to show genuine confusion.  
"It's like I said…I don't care what you've become…you're still my brother." This comment caused Wayne to shakily extend his right hand.  
"I can't believe I'm about to say this, but…welcome to the team…"  
Janine looked down at Wayne's hand for a few seconds before gripping it with her own.

* * *

"Thank you for the offer, Vlad," Jazz politely remarked. "But I need to get back Amity Park. I have homework and stuff of that nature."  
"Are you sure, Jasmine?" Vlad replied, his voice sounding sincere, to a point. Apparently, it was enough to convince Jazz, who actually smiled at Vlad.  
"Yes, I really have some things that need to be attended to, but I appreciate the offering to let me stay. You two have fun." She smiled one more time. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, Vikki."  
"Yes, thank you again Jazz." Vikki arose from her seat and exchanged a friendly hug with the red headed teenager, who proceeded out the door shortly thereafter. Vikki returned to her seat, looking at Vlad with a big grin on her fact. "I can't believe I've finally found you, Vlad." She was sincerely happy to have met him, as was evident in her voice.  
"Huh? Oh, yeah, it is great isn't it?" Vlad commented. "It's unbelievable…and it seems you have come to me in my hour of need."  
"Hour of need?" Vikki asked incredulously.  
"Yes, hour of need." Vlad answered, his back turned to Vikki so he could hide the sly look on his face. "You see, dear sister…I've been beset upon by a foul ghost boy named Danny Phantom. Recently, he has teamed up with a boy with wings. They've been hounding me for about four months now."  
"Is it because of your ghost portal?"  
"No, something else. They think I have this stone called the Spirit Stone. It's an all-powerful stone that grants the powers of the universe itself to whoever holds it. They want it for themselves, to enslave all humanity. I've tried to stop them, by hiring people to fight them, but time and time again, they've proven too strong!"  
"…" Vikki remained silent for a few minutes, before slowly speaking up. "Now that I'm here, brother, they'll never bother you again. I'll make them see the error of their ways!" she stated confidently.  
"You would?" Vlad questioned, his back turned to her. "But I couldn't put you in such danger…" he smirked, having planned out the transpiring events in his head already.  
"I'm fairly certain they won't be a problem for me, Vlad." Vikki said, a slight smirk on her face.  
"You realize these teens want to destroy everything, correct?"  
"And? Obviously they have to be stopped. I know I was given these powers for a reason." Vikki stated.  
"Very well…" Vlad said. "They've made their base of operations in Amity Park. I have a person or two that I've hired to attempt to get rid of the ghost boy and his accomplice…excuse me while I go fetch them…" Vlad then turned and opened the door to the adjacent hallway and Vikki took a seat. Vlad walked out without another word, silently closing the door behind him.

* * *

"So why exactly are you here, anyway? I know you said you wanted to help me out, but…how is this helping?" Wayne asked, arching a brow as he stood facing the nearest window, gazing out into the night sky of Wisconsin with still a slight feeling of unease.  
"Vlad agreed to help me train." Janine stated, glancing over at Wayne before continuing. "Since I chose this path, eventually the day will come where I must fight Ash."  
"That's another thing I was going to ask you…I know how you feel about Ketchum…are you really willing to fight him for me?" Wayne's expression was completely blank as he turned to Janine, staring her down.  
"I admit I'd rather not fight him, but you're my brother…if he's going to end up trying to kill you, then I'll kill him." Janine said confidently.  
"Can you live with that?" Wayne asked.  
"If I couldn't, I wouldn't have offered to join you, Wayne."  
"Wow…" was the only word that escaped the tyrant's lips. For the second time during this day, he was left speechless." I thought you were a stupid whore for years…" he motioned to Janine to walk closer. As she took him up on his gesture, he placed his right hand on her shoulder. "…But this may be the first time I actually consider myself proud to be related to you."  
"Wayne…" Janine smiled, then threw her arms around her younger brother in an embrace.  
"Whoa…whoa." Wayne said, gently shoving her off. "I didn't say we've graduated to hugs."  
"Sorry." Janine said, rubbing the back of her head with her left hand. Just then, Vlad walked in.  
"We have a bit of a situation…" Vlad said, then proceeded to explain the events that had just transpired with Vikki, with Wayne listening intently, his eyes widening ever so slightly. As Vlad finished his explanation, Wayne only had one thing to say…  
"…When the HELL did I become YOUR lackey?!" Wayne shouted.  
"From the moment my easily-exploitable sister with ghost powers walked in the door." Vlad said sternly. "If we can fool her, we'll have a new ally in our little axis of 'evil'."  
"…When this is over, you're going to suffer greatly. You realize this, don't you?" Wayne asked.  
".I guess you decided to stay the course after all. Well then, let's get on with the performance." Vlad motioned to Wayne, and the two of them walked off.  
"…Using your own sister… is that all we siblings are good for?" Janine monologued, turning her attention to the night sky.

* * *

The next day, Vikki was back in Amity Park, with Wayne in tow. As she took a swig of her bottled water, she glanced over at Wayne, who was taking a drag from a cigarette as he looked over the side of the wall they were leaning against.  
"Where'd my brother find you?" Vikki asked.  
"I fell out of the sky. Now be quiet. We're trying to spy on Phantom and Ketchum." This caused Vikki to drop her water bottle.  
"Ketchum?! You mean Ash Ketchum?!"  
"You've met him, huh? He's such an annoying jackass." Wayne scowled, glancing over at Ash and company talking.  
"I can't believe Ash is a demon bent on destroying the world." Vikki gasped.  
"C'mon, don't lose sight of why we're here." Wayne said, dropping his cigarette and stomping it out.  
"Yes…" Vikki peeked around the corner, unable to make out what everyone but Ash was saying. She could tell he was pissed off just by his motions. Putting her hand to her ear, she was able to hear what was being said a little better.  
"That's just GREAT, Jazz! You took Vlad's half-ghost sister to see him! You do realize he wants me DEAD, right?!"" Ash flung his hands up in rage.  
"Calm down! I didn't take her for that purpose, and I sure as HELL didn't know she was half-ghost!"  
"Hey, you wanna find the Spirit Stone and give it to him as well?! That'd be the only thing worse than Vlad getting a new ally!"  
"Why are you so negative?! Who says she'll help Vlad?!"  
"She's his god damn sister, Jazz! Of course he's gonna get her to help him!"  
"Or maybe he'll genuinely try to bond with her! You don't know any more than Danny thinks he does!"  
"Neither do you, Jazz. Neither do you. You HAVE been wrong in the past. Remember Jamie? 'Oh, he's such a wonderful guy! I'll just ignore the fact that he's borderline psychotic toward my little brother!'"  
"Thanks Ash, I needed to be reminded of that…you know what? You can be such an asshole."  
"Yeah? Well, this asshole's gonna go beat something up. Preferably that damned Box Ghost."  
"Well, go ahead! You won't get any argument from me!"  
"TCH, yeah right! You want to fight about everything I say or do! Why the hell do you care?! I'm not your damn boyfriend!"  
"Just go away."  
"I got a better idea! I'm gonna go put an end to this right now! That way I can get you the hell out of my hair!"  
"Fine, whatever! I'm out of here!" Jazz then stormed off.  
"Put an end to this…?" Vikki whispered to Wayne.  
"Think about it. He's wanting to kill your brother."  
"…!" Vikki's shocked look quickly turned to one of determination as she transformed. "Not while I can help it, he won't."  
"Hang on, kid…I'll give ya a hand." Wayne smirked, as a purple aura surrounded him. "Wait right here, we'll lure him to one of my traps…" He then stepped out from behind the wall and fired a Devil Gun at Ash, which hit him right in the back, between the shoulder blades.  
"ASH!" Jenny cried.  
"Well, look who rears his ugly face once again." Yusuke growled, leaping up from the bench the group was sitting at.  
"Yusuke, Ash might be hurt and Wayne's the first person you turn your attention to?" Jenny scolded Yusuke.  
"YES, because of three very important reasons. One, Ash is stronger than me. Two, that shot would've barely hurt me. Finally, three, if I take my eyes off of Wayne, he'll get away, as usual." Yusuke pointed out.  
"What can I say? The man knows me." Wayne smirked.  
"'The hell do YOU want, Wayne?" Ash asked.  
"What else would I want, Ash? I want to fight you and your friends."  
"Here?!" Ash looked shocked.  
"No. The same place you went to save Janine." Wayne's eyes narrowed.  
"Or I could settle this right now, Wayne." Yusuke threatened. "Remember what happened the last time you fought me…"  
"You may nearly have beaten me, but I did manage to break your nose." Wayne smirked.  
"Only cause you caught me by surprise, jackass." Yusuke answered indignantly.  
"Well now's your chance to get back at me…meet me at the docks in about an hour."  
"Fair enough…we'll meet there." Ash spoke up again.  
"Ash, you shouldn't try to—"Jenny started to speak, but Ash held up his left hand to silence her.  
"I'm fine. That didn't even hurt." Ash looked over at Wayne. "We'll settle the score once and for all."  
"So we shall." Wayne said, turning around and walking away.  
"That was unusually blunt of him…" Jenny observed.  
"Yeah, well who cares? Wayne's going down. Then I can get out of this dump." Ash muttered, walking away from Jenny and Yusuke.  
"What's with him? Jazz doesn't usually get to him THIS bad." Yusuke commented.  
"I think he's starting to miss home." Jenny sighed.

* * *

Almost an hour later, Wayne and Vikki sat waiting for Ash and friends.  
"Where the hell is that jerk?!" Wayne shouted. "I told him to meet me here in an hour."  
"You know, you could've been nicer about inviting him to fight to the death." Vikki commented casually.  
"…It's a FIGHT TO THE DEATH." Wayne slapped his forehead. "Gah, I'm SURROUNDED BY IDIOTS."  
"Hey, I realize this is serious, I just don't feel the need to be overly cruel about it." Vikki snapped back. "And you said ABOUT an hour."  
"Same difference." Wayne grumbled.  
"No. It isn't."  
"It doesn't matter what I did or didn't say…he should be here by n—" Wayne was cut off by laughter from the shadows. "…So, you're finally here, Ketchum!"  
"That's right, and I'm gonna put an end to this!" Ash sounded more determined than ever before.  
"More like I will." Wayne commented casually. "Face it Ketchum, you're as good as dead."  
"How many times have I heard that before?" Ash rolled his eyes.  
"You two are boring." Vikki said, transforming into her ghostly alter-ego.  
"And you're a liar." Ash commented angrily.  
"I didn't lie to you, I just didn't tell you I had ghost powers." Vikki answered defensively.  
"Lies by omission are still lies." Ash stared down Vikki as the Rift Sword formed in his right hand.  
"You're one to talk. It was so nice of you to leave out the part where you're trying to destroy the world!" Vikki pointed a finger at Ash.  
"…Seriously?" Ash looked over at Wayne. "How many times are you going to use that lie?"  
"What are you talking about?" Wayne looked puzzled.  
"You lied to Valerie, to Keitaro, and to pretty much EVERYBODY you've ever met!" Ash yelled. "The sad thing is several of them didn't realize your lie until it was too late…"  
"What's he talking about?" Vikki repeated the question Wayne had asked seconds ago.  
"He's just trying to pull one over on you, Vikki." Wayne calmly explained.  
"Aren't you tired of this yet, Wayne? The truth comes out in the end. It always does."  
"The truth is already out, Ash. You're a horrible monster, and you have to die!"  
"Would the two of you just shut up, already?!" Vikki shouted, before turning to Ash. "Look, he's right. You've done nothing to convince me that you're a good person."  
"And has Vlad done anything to convince you he's good?" Jenny suddenly interjected.  
"He's my brother." Came Vikki's quick response.  
"You never thought he might be using you?" Yusuke chimed in.  
"He wouldn't do that."  
"Y'know what? At this point, I don't care." Ash suddenly drew back his Rift Sword.  
"Ash!" Jenny called out.  
"Can't hear ya, too busy saving the day!" Ash replied, as the familiar blue Spirit Energy began to swirl at his feet, and eventually fill his blade. He leapt into the air and shouted "SPIRIT SLASH!", releasing the blue flaming blade of energy at Wayne. However, to his surprise, Wayne stuck out his sword, and the blue energy blade dissipated soon afterward.  
"Did I forget to tell you I picked up a new trick?" Wayne asked, grinning evilly. "Your energy is now MINE!"  
"Son of a…" Ash stared on, his jaw dropping in disbelief. "Well…let's see how you like a DOUBLE DOSE!"  
Once again, the blue energy swirled around his feet, and flowed into the Rift Sword. Jumping up again, he fired two consecutive Spirit Slashes at Wayne. "SPIRIT SLASH DOUBLE!"  
Wayne just continued to grin as he held out his sword and absorbed the two energy blasts.  
"I knew I'd face this attack one day. I also knew I'd have to be prepared for it." Wayne said, with a laugh. "And after a bit of research into the different types of energies, I figured out exactly how to prepare. Turns out your Spirit Energy won't really work all that well on someone else who can use it."  
"What…?!" Ash looked completely stunned.  
"Yeah, I kinda learned how to use your Spirit Gun."  
"Bullshit." Yusuke said, though his voice was evidence of his doubt.  
"Oh, you don't believe me?" Wayne glanced over to Yusuke. "Fine, I'll show you."  
Before Yusuke even had a chance to react, Wayne's right index finger shot out a blue blast of energy and sent him flying into some crates.  
"HOLY SHIT!" Jenny shouted. Before she could go help Yusuke, however, she was sent flying herself by an ecto-blast from Vikki.  
"How the HELL can you use Spirit Energy?!" Ash shouted in disbelief.  
"Funny that, Spirit Energy's EXACTLY like Demon Energy, but can only be used by humans. And since I'm half-human…" Wayne smirked.  
"Some 'human'. You want to wipe out your entire race." Ash accused, pointing an angry finger at Wayne. "You destroy any living thing, even those that actually feel sorry for your unworthy ass. Why your sister still cares about you, I'll never know. I can only pity Vikki here, since I doubt she's gonna realize what an evil bastard you really are!"  
"Your endless speeches bore me, Ash." Wayne said. "Vikki, if you would do the honors, send these three to the afterlife."  
"…" Vikki stared at the weary Ash, the recovering Yusuke, and the shocked Jenny. 'Are they really evil?' she thought.  
"You don't have to do this…" Ash said. "You don't have to become another puppet of his…"  
"Did you hear me, you ditzy bitch?! I said KILL THEM!" Wayne roared.  
'And this guy…he's so…frightening…'  
"Do what your heart's telling you to do…" Ash closed his eyes. "If killing me makes you realize the truth, then go ahead…"  
"ASH!" Jenny shouted. "You'd better not come near him!"  
"I…I…" Vikki stammered, raising her right hand.  
"DO IT, OR I'LL KILL YOU AND YOUR FUCKING BROTHER!" Wayne bellowed, causing Vikki's eyes to go wide.  
"!" Vikki raised her eyes to meet Wayne. "You…you son of a bitch. I actually believed you. You lied to me…! And so did my brother…"  
"I didn't even really try to hide the fact that I hate your brother OR you. And for the record, I don't work for him. HE works for ME."  
"Well, he's about to be free from you!" Vikki shouted, as all of the windows within the warehouse suddenly broke at once. An extremely loud thunderclap could be heard outside.  
"You're an idiot. You're raising arms against me? I could wipe the floor with a HUNDRED of you!"  
"Guess we'll find out if you can back up your claim or not!" Vikki retorted, as, to everybody's amazement, a thundercloud appeared out of thin air, sending a bolt of lightning at Wayne, who just barely managed to dodge it.  
"Whoa…!" Jenny gasped.  
"She can summon lightning?!" Ash exclaimed.  
"Foolish little wench…I'll make sure you suffer." Wayne's eyes turned amber. "You REALLY have no idea what you're messing with, do you?!"  
"I will defeat you, Wayne…" Vikki stated calmly, summoning another thundercloud. This time, the lightning managed to hit Wayne square in the chest, sending him flying back into some crates, only a few feet away from where Yusuke had landed.  
"…" Wayne, to the four standing heroes, appeared to have been knocked unconscious. With the threat over for the time being, Vikki turned to Ash, Jenny, and Yusuke, as she reverted into her human form.  
"I'm sorry…I almost would have…I thought because you didn't want to speak with me originally…" Vikki felt tears welling up in her eyes.  
"Don't worry about it." Ash smiled. "I'm just…dealing with some issues right now…"  
"He's homesick." Jenny explained. "We all are."  
"Damn straight." Yusuke chimed in.  
"Why don't we all get out of here?" Ash offered. However, before any of them could do just that, they were interrupted by Wayne's scream of rage as the crates he fell into were blown away by the sheer amount of Demon Energy he was exerting. As the cloud of dust formed by this action disappeared, the four heroes could see that his eyes were now red.  
"You bastards…I didn't expect to have to power up to full again so soon…" Wayne let out a forced chuckle as he stepped forward.  
"That should have killed you…!" Vikki commented.  
"If I were a full human, there's a good chance it would have. However, I believe I've already established that I'm only HALF human. The other half…well, let's just say it makes me a hell of a lot stronger than any pathetic human!" Wayne stepped forward slowly, his grin widening.  
"I didn't think I'd get to kill you all so soon… but it's funny how life works, isn't it?" Wayne cackled. He raised his hand to fire a blast at Vikki, but before he could, another ecto-blast hit him in the back, sending him to his knees.  
"Weren't you forgetting someone, Wayne?!" Danny said, floating down to ground level.  
"What are you doing here?!" Wayne looked shocked.  
"I think a more pertinent question is why I wasn't here before…but for completion's sake I'll answer your question. Why would I pass up an opportunity to kick YOUR ass?!"  
"Yeah right, like you even c—" Wayne was cut off by Danny blasting him again. This time, however, Vikki joined in, shooting out a prolonged ecto-blast.  
"Ash! Do it now!" Vikki yelled.  
"Right!" Ash replied, then brought his sword to his side once again. "Can't say it's been nice knowing you, Wayne!" he said, as the energy flowed from his feet into his Rift Sword once more. He jumped into the air and unleashed the blade of energy. However, before it could connect with Wayne, someone leapt out from the shadows and snatched him up, leaping to the safety of the complete opposite side of the warehouse.  
"You broke your promise, Ash…" came a somewhat sad voice, as the person who snatched Wayne came into focus.  
"Janine?!" Ash shouted, unable to believe his eyes. Indeed, it was Janine who stood before he and his friends.  
"You promised you wouldn't try to kill my brother…"  
"…" Ash looked down, unable to face his former partner.  
"You're no different than what you claim Wayne is."  
"Your brother's a threat. You know that."  
"He's still my brother…and next time we meet, we're enemies." Janine turned and jumped through one of the broken windows, Wayne in tow.  
"I'm sorry..." Ash trailed off, looking at the space where Janine stood only seconds ago.

* * *

Hours later, Vikki rang the front doorbell to Vlad's Wisconsin castle. Vlad answered seconds later, with a look of shock at Vikki's angry expression.  
"You lied." Vikki said. "The only thing I wanted was to reunite with my only remaining family…"  
"Vikki…I guess the truth came out?" Vlad looked away from his sister.  
"You USED me! You wanted me to get rid of Ash so he wouldn't keep you from getting everything you wanted!" Vikki shouted. "Why didn't you just tell me that from the beginning?!"  
"Because you wouldn't have done what I wanted you to do." Vlad admitted.  
"You're unbelievable…all I wanted was my brother to be there for m—"  
"TOO BAD!" Vlad interrupted, shouting at the top of his lungs. "I hurt your feelings. YES, it's terrible. NO, I'm NOT sorry."  
"How could you be this way…?"  
"You want things to be okay?! Too bad! Nothing's EVER okay!" Vlad continued to shout. "If the world were a just place, Mother and Father wouldn't have died and left you on my doorstep, so to speak. I have enough trouble in my life without dealing with a bratty teenage sister! If it were a just world, that idiot Jack Fenton would've been hit by that prototype's malfunction instead of me!"  
"That prototype hit you?"  
"Yes…it gave me ghost powers." Vlad said, slowly transforming into Plasmius.  
"So you not only lied about Ash and his friends, but about yourself! I can't believe I ever considered you a brother…" Vikki looked down, then quickly turned around and flew off. Vlad silently turned around, the only thing he could hear was Vikki's last words to him just now repeating over and over again…

* * *

Jazz stood at her locker the next day, depositing her Algebra book. As she shut the locker, she was surprised to see Ash standing to her left.  
"What do you want?!" Jazz said, annoyed.  
"I just wanted to say…I owe you an apology." Ash looked down. "I wish I had half of the courage you do…"  
"Courage? You get out and kick bad guy butt! You're so much braver than I am!" Jazz smiled.  
"But you have the courage to attempt new things…you weren't afraid of Vikki bonding with Vlad."  
"You were right to be suspicious, though."  
"No I wasn't. My own fear of the situation made everything worse…if W—" Ash cut himself off quickly, before continuing with what he was going to say. "…HE hadn't been as idiotic as he tends to be, she would have finished me simply because I was acting rashly."  
"You're homesick. You don't have to apologize for missing your mom and girlfriend…"  
"Maybe not, but I wanted to let you know I'm sorry for exploding like I did anyway."  
"And I'm sorry too…just remember, if you need to talk, I'm here for you." Jazz said, hugging him before walking off. Ash stared longingly at her graceful figure disappearing amongst a crowd of people, saying one thing to himself before turning around and leaving.  
"…Stop this, Ash. Don't hurt her."


	38. Judgment Daze

PokeWing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 38: Judgment Daze  
A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

Disclaimer: This entire episode is in Wayne's point of view, so forgive me beforehand if it comes out more clunky than usual, as I'm not very experienced with POV chapters. I bet you were expecting me to give you another witty message about how Episodes 1 and 25 have the disclaimer, weren't you? HAHAHA FOOLED YOU ASSHOLES. On with the episode. =P

* * *

As the alarm went off on the nightstand, I slowly reached over and hit it with enough force to crush a boulder. Predictably, the damn thing broke with the greatest of ease. Sighing, I ended up literally rolling out of the bed and onto the floor.  
"Motoko!" I called angrily, as I struggled to untangle myself from the mess of a cover that I'd slept in last night. My demon-possessed sidekick briskly walked into the room and helped me crawl away from the blanket from Hell. As I got free from its grip, I sighed again.  
"Another bad dream, sir?" Motoko asked me, with what I could only imagine was concern. I nodded.  
"Damnable Ketchum." I muttered. "Even in my DREAMS I can't escape him."  
"I'll double my efforts for the Spirit Stone so you can put an end to him immediately, Master Wayne."  
"T…Thank you." It felt weird for me to offer words of thanks, but in all honesty, I was feeling fairly thankful. Whether it was residual gratitude from being spared a couple of weeks ago from Ash murdering me, or just feeling thankful for still having someone I can count on, I didn't know.  
"I'm going to go to the park…" I announced. "I need to think about this next move of ours."  
"Ours, sir?" Motoko sounded surprised. Granted, I take credit for all the really good ideas, even if I don't come up with them.  
"Yes, you're a pivotal part of this plan. The only thing about it though…it might kill you."  
"I'm willing to do whatever it takes to serve you, lord." Motoko said. I grinned in response.  
"Good to know. Now excuse me, I'm gonna go to the park and relax for a bit."  
"Of course, Master." Motoko nodded, as I quickly got dressed and took my leave. As I walked along the streets where my crappy little apartment was located, I glanced around me at the various people also walking along the street, going about their daily lives, much as I was doing. It didn't take long for me to reach the park, and before long, I found myself sitting on a park bench, pulling a cigarette from my coat pocket. As I reached for my lighter, I heard a voice call out to me…or I can only assume it was to me.  
"Those things are bad for you, y'know." I turned my head and nearly jumped, noticing the girl sitting next to me from pretty much out of nowhere. She was wearing a pink shirt with a red, cartoony heart on it., and blue denim pants. Her hair was an unusual pink color, making me wonder if she'd dyed it recently, as the pink in her hair was brighter than that on her shirt. I looked over at the girl with a snort. Little did I know…

* * *

(Title) Judgment Daze  
(Subtitle) The Day of Judgment for Wayne Williams!  
(Jingle) Soft Synthesizer  
(Image) A pair of evil-looking red eyes glares down at Wayne, who's kneeling and clutching his chest. Aimee stands behind him, freaking out as she looks up at the eyes.

* * *

"Your point being?" I grumbled, not looking over toward her as I managed to get my cigarette lit, taking a drag and leaning back on the park bench.  
"You don't care?" The girl asked. "Those things could kill you, y'know."

""True, they very well COULD kill me. But not as fast as, say, a shotgun to the chest or a sword to…well, the same place." I laughed.  
"I'm sure everybody in your 'hood' has those things lying around." The girl rolled her eyes.  
To my own surprise, I let out a laugh. "You'd be surprised."  
"I'm sure I would be. Probably about as surprised as everybody else looking at you right now. Seriously, it's gotta be 95 degrees out here right now. Why the hell are you wearing a white lab coat?"  
"It makes me look cool."  
"Not really. Kinda makes you look like a dork…at least, I imagine that's what everybody else thinks." She stared over at me. I slowly returned her gaze.  
"And you?" And you? And you?! Why should I even care about what a girl I JUST NOW met thinks of my appearance? For that matter, why should I care what ANYBODY thinks?! Before I could continue my own mental interrogation any further, I was snapped out of my reverie by the girl speaking up.  
"I like it…looks supervillain-y." I laughed again.  
"Then I got what I was going for." I held out my hand for a shake, as I formally introduced myself.  
"Wayne Williams."  
"Aimee Carpenter." The girl, who I now knew as Aimee, returned my handshake. "So what brings you here to the park, Wayne?"  
"Thinking…been putting together my latest plan."  
"And that plan is…?"  
"Let's just say it's big…" I quipped, taking another drag from my cigarette.  
"Are you even old enough to smoke legally?" Aimee pondered, watching me as I took drag after drag off the cigarette until I'd had enough, tossing the butt down and stomping it out.  
"Mmmmmmmmaybe." I smiled slyly.  
"How old are you?"  
"Twenty-one." I answered immediately.  
"…Sixteen, right?" she smirked.  
"…And if I am? You gonna go report my ass? If so, I know at LEAST three other people in my Algebra class that smoke harder stuff than this." I joked.  
"And how would you know?" she asked me, sarcasm evident in her voice.  
"A number of things, really…smell, for one. Appearance is a large factor as well…oh, and I may have taken a hit or two after beating up whatever jackass was smoking it before me." I arched my eyebrows, returning her sarcastic look with one of my own.  
"That was…unusually honest." Aimee said, her eyes slightly widening.  
"Yeah, well…I don't see the point in lying about it." I retorted. "Anyway, you've asked me plenty of things, let me return one of your earlier questions. How old are YOU?"  
"I'm seventeen. I graduate Slimer High at the end of the year." she answered.  
"Slimer High…?" I asked, arching my eyebrows again. "Do we just live in a world full of crappy puns?"  
"I guess so." Aimee chuckled. We sat in silence for a few minutes, before I stood up from the park bench, stretching.  
"Just sitting around is boring as all hell." I said, offering my hand to Aimee. "Wanna go for a walk?"  
"Sure." she said, taking my hand and getting up herself. We started to walk along the outer edge of the park, taking in the sights and sounds going on around us, as we began to chat once again about our lives.  
"So, where're ya from, Wayne?" she asked me, and I spent the next few seconds searching for a satisfying answer.  
"I'm from…a place very far away from here…I transferred here several months ago."  
"Oh really? Does this far away place have a name?" Again, I spent the following few seconds trying to think of a satisfactory answer, and, ultimately deciding that semi-honesty was the best policy, I spoke up again.  
"…El'her."  
"And where's that, exactly?"  
"Far, far away from here." I answered, looking down, as vague memories came to my head of the night I was forced to leave El'her. Everything that night had happened so fast, and yet, I still remember it as if I were there yesterday…the screams of the dying, the heat of the flames, and, most importantly...the image of my home crumbling as Janine and I had raced away from it.  
"Are you okay?" I heard Aimee ask, as I snapped back to reality.  
"…Yeah. I just…don't want to talk about El'her right now." I admitted, looking away.  
"You looked white as a ghost just now…are you sure you don't want to t—" before she could finish, I interrupted her.  
"YES. I'm sure." I huffed.  
"Okay…sorry." Aimee quickly apologized.  
"…" I remained silent, as we continued to walk. Eventually, I decided to speak up once more.  
"What about you? Where do you come from?"  
"Right here. We're standing on my home turf. I live only a couple of blocks from here."  
"Ah, cool…cool." I decided to 'lighten' the mood again. "Y'know, when I raze everything to the ground, I MIGHT consider sparing this place."  
Psh, yeah right. You couldn't 'raze' a paper bag." Aimee joked.  
"What makes you so sure of that?" I said, grinning slyly, wondering how fast she'd run off if she knew that I WASN'T lying about my plans. "I mean, I beat up some guys just to take a hit off of some Mary Jane."  
"Who hasn't?" she joked once more.  
"You're telling me you've done something like that as well?"  
"Maybe…I'm an expert in torture." she responded, winking at me.  
"An expert in torture, eh…?" I smirked.  
"I grew up around a bunch of idiot boys…of course I had to learn to take care of myself." Aimee closed her eyes and chuckled a bit.  
"Well, most guys ARE morons." I added, making her chuckle again.  
"And you? Are you a moron?"  
"You can stand to talk to me for longer than five seconds, right? I mean, until this sentence, have I used the words 'tits' or 'ass'?"  
"You did say jackass…" Aimee rolled her eyes again.  
"You KNOW what I mean." I spoke up with a smirk.  
"Yeah…I know you aren't an idiot." she laughed. As she finished saying that, we reached the front of the park again. I looked out toward the city of Amity Park proper, knowing I'd have to leave again very shortly in order to make any real progress with my plan for the day…  
"Everything okay?" Aimee asked.  
"Yeah…hey, I should probably get going." I said, surprised at myself for feeling reluctant to leave.  
"Busy day?" she looked over at me with a smirk.  
"Between all the porn I plan on downloading and the MASSIVE shipment of cocaine I have coming in? Totally…" I laughed. "Seriously though, I do have some shit to do."  
"Okay…will I see you again?" Aimee's eyes looked sincere, and that threw me off guard. I wasn't actually expecting her to want to see me again…so I caved.  
"How does tomorrow evening after school sound?" I asked.  
"Sure. It's a date, then." she smiled. Awkwardly returning her smile, I walked off, wondering what in the HELL had gotten into me.

* * *

The next day, I rose out of bed. As I finished getting dressed to go to school, Motoko walked in.  
"Good morning, Master Wayne. What's on the agenda for today?"  
I pondered for a second, before answering. "You know what? Let's take the day off today. Go to a movie or something. I'm gonna be busy after school."  
"Sir?" Motoko looked confused. "Is everything okay?"  
"Everything's fine. Good day to take over the planet and all that." I grinned widely.  
"Yes, it is…why aren't we planning to do that, again?"  
"Everybody needs a break once in a while. I'll continue to plot during my busy hours. You go relax and enjoy yourself. I hear they made a new Dead Teacher movie. Let me know how it is." I said, then started to hum as I walked toward the door, receiving a positively weirded-out expression from Motoko as I did so.

* * *

About twenty minutes later, I arrived at school, surprisingly eager to start the day. That eagerness soon faded, however, as I sat through another boring explanation of quadratic equations. As Sternbaum droned on and on, I sighed and turned my head. At that second, the ghost boy's sister turned her head, smiled at me, and waved, which I half-heartedly returned. The girl was too nice for her own good. Nevertheless, there were worse humans than her, and at least she'd probably be easy to manipulate into doing my bidding. I suddenly opened up my notebook and began to scribble a note to Jazz, a smile on my face as I did so. Apparently, my sudden movement had gotten the attention of Sternbaum, who marched over to my desk.  
"Well well, Mister Williams….is there something you want to share with the class?" he asked, glaring down at me.  
"No sir…I just needed to let my tutor know that I wouldn't be able to make it tonight." I admitted.  
"…Something's different about you, Williams. I can't quite put my finger on it…" Hitler-Lite said to me, examining me over a few times.  
"No, no, I'm the same I've always been, sir." I stared him down, completely serious.  
"Pity…for a second I thought you might have finally stopped slacking off. And where's that quadratic homework I assigned you two weeks ago?"  
"It's…a work in progress?" I grinned sheepishly.  
"Why didn't I give you the F before now…?" he muttered, walking back to the blackboard.  
"Fucking Nazi…" I whispered angrily, under my breath. "You'll be the first to die…"  
"What was that?!" Sternbaum angrily turned around.  
"Nothing…nothing." I retorted, giving another sheepish grin. As he turned back to the blackboard once again, I whispered "Gimme a break already…don't you have some Jews to exterminate?"  
"I heard that! Lancer's office, NOW!" Sternbaum furiously pointed to the door, not turning around this time.  
"Yes sir…" I grumbled, walking to the door, flinging it open, and slamming it shut behind me. I stormed toward Lancer's office…wait, was I actually obeying Hitler-Lite?! Apparently so, because moments later, I stood before Vice-Principal Lancer, phasing out most of what he was saying to me, only catching tiny bits of the lecture.  
"…Very disrespectful of people's feelings…skipping school half the time…not making your regular tutor times with Miss Fenton…" I decided to retaliate to this.  
"Maybe if she didn't pick up that prick Ash Ketchum for tutoring as well, I'd actually go to her house sometimes…"  
"I don't care if you have a problem with Mister Ketchum or not, deal with it!" Lancer shouted. "I'm tired of seeing you in this office, Mister Williams! Either start doing what you're told and be nicer to people, or I'll be forced to expel you! Is that what you want?!"  
I paused for a few seconds, thinking of how I wanted to answer him. To my great surprise, I semi-involuntarily answered his question before I had a chance to really give it some thought.  
"…No." I looked down, my eyes widening as I did so. Did I REALLY just say no to the possibility of being expelled?! I hated this place with the fiery intensity of a MILLION suns, but I just had expressed displeasure at the possibility of being kicked out! What the hell is wrong with me?! I couldn't question myself any further, since Lancer decided to speak up again.  
"Look…I know it's tough fitting in to a new neighborhood. You miss all your old friends worse than you can express in wor—" I cut him off quickly.  
"I…didn't have any friends. I've been alone most of my life." For what I could swear was the hundredth time in the past two days, I found myself wondering why I'm acting the way I am. Why did I just now share this with Lancer? He's a boring, stuffy old fart, there's no way he could have even begun to imagine what I've been through.  
"I'm sorry, Wayne…" Lancer said, taking me by complete surprise. "Everyone has their fair share of problems. I won't ask you to elaborate, but maybe you should get everything off your chest soon. If you ever feel like talking, I'm a good listener."  
"T...thanks." I said, somewhat embarrassed. Lancer opened the door, and I quickly got up and walked out, heading back to Sternbaum's class.

* * *

As the bell rang to signify the end of the day, I hurried to the exit. As I left, I saw Ketchum, the robot girl, and that smug asshole Urameshi standing at the bottom of the steps. I knew I'd have to listen to them for a few seconds, so I gritted my teeth and walked toward them.  
"Yo Wayne, heard ya got sent to Lancer again by Sternbaum." Ash smirked. "He's doing my job for me."  
"Your job?" I facepalmed, then rolled my eyes as I continued. "Let me guess…he's 'schooling my ass'?"  
"Exactly." Ash's eyes narrowed. "I heard you called him a Nazi."  
"Among other things, in my head…" I gave off a smirk myself. "I also said he'd be the first to die."  
"He's a bastard, to be sure, but it'll be a cold day in Hell before I let you hurt anyone else."  
"Like you can stop me. We can settle this at the usual location: my warehouse at the docks. Thursday, 5 PM." I said, a smug grin on my face.  
"…Seriously?" Ash looked dumbfounded. "Don't you get tired of us going there and kicking your ass?"  
"This time will be different, trust me." I retorted.  
"Yeah right." Jenny countered. "We've beaten you EVERY time we've fought you since we got here."  
"Did it never occur to you that I've been training?" I asked, my grin fading. "Seriously, Thursday. Warehouse. 5 PM. I'll teach you all not to fuck with me."  
"Sh'yeah, you keep telling yourself that." Yusuke chuckled.  
"As long as it brings results, I will." I scowled. "DON'T be late!" I then stormed off, heading in the direction of the park, hearing Jenny ask "What's with him?" as I left.

* * *

"Hey!" Aimee called out to me, as she came into my field of view, dressed much differently than she was yesterday. She dressed in a white tank top, and blue jeans. She ran up to me quickly, and I gave her a quick grin, signifying I was glad to see her.  
"...Still trying to impress the crowd?" she asked, noting that I had the exact same wardrobe assembled as the one I wore yesterday, and the day before that, and so on, and so on.  
"Totally. Wanna grab a bite to eat? I'm hungry. Just came here from school an' all..."  
"Sure, let's go!" Aimee said cheerfully, and the two of us walked out of the park and headed down the road toward Nasty Burger. As we walked, I could swear we were being watched, but I shrugged it off as a side effect to the change in my personality in the past few days.  
"So, you want a Mighty Meaty Meal?" I asked Aimee out of the blue, and she nodded in response. I grinned like an idiot for the second time that day, and then made a verbal note. "Aimee…not a vegetarian…good."  
"Who wants to eat nothing but vegetables all the time? Who am I, Sam Manson?" she asked, eliciting a laugh from me as I put my right hand to my face.  
"It's sad, but I know who you're talking about…I go to Casper High." I explained. "I've met Sam a few times before…the bitch is crazy."  
"Crazy? Maybe not so much that as weird…" Aimee chuckled. I laughed again, but the laughter quickly stopped as we approached the Nasty Burger, and I noticed that Ash and all of his twerpy friends were there, sitting at a table outside of the building, laughing it up. I could overhear Ash joking about my earlier challenge.  
"…So then he said 'My warehouse at the docks, Thursday at 5 PM.' It's like he's some sort of masochist."  
"Or a sadist." I interjected, walking over to them.  
"Oh, it's you…Mister 'Never Learns His Lesson'." Bloo quipped.  
"Dammit, YOU shut up. Ketchum has something resembling a right to brag about kicking my ass. He's fought me longer than any of you clowns have." I snapped.  
"…Eep…" Bloo sank below the table in fear, bringing a smirk to my face.  
"…Who's that?" Jenny said, out of the blue, pointing to Aimee, who was still standing over there, her eyebrows arched in confusion.  
"Her? She's…" I started to explain, but Ash cut me off.  
"Lemme guess… she's your newest puppet."  
"No, actually."  
"I don't see how you're gonna get much use out of her, though…I'm getting MAYBE a 25 from her, as far as her Spirit Energy count goes. You gonna use her for a human shield while I'm beating the shit out of you tomorrow?"  
"…Don't even go there, Ketchum." I said, my grin quickly fading and becoming an angry frown.  
"Hey, you!" Ash called over to Aimee.  
"Ash, maybe you shouldn't make a scene…" Jenny pointed out, and for once, I found myself in agreement with one of Ash's friends.  
"Yeah man, people are starting to stare…" the ghost boy added.  
"You better stay far away from him! He's bad news!" Ash shouted.  
"Ketchum…" I said, my eyes turning amber as I bared my teeth angrily.  
"He's gotten plenty of people hurt or worse! He's just using you to fulfill his plan!"  
I closed my eyes for a few seconds, let out a sigh, then with a yell of "SHUT THE FUCK UP!" I sent him flying through the window into the Nasty Burger building with a well-placed, powerful punch, causing everybody who was previously sitting to flee in a panic. As people ran by me, I angrily marched into the building , kicked Ketchum a few times in the ribs, then pointed my left index finger at his head.  
"I've had enough of you to last me an entire lifetime!" I roared in anger. "What do you say I finish this now?!"  
"…My god…" Ash said, his eyes widening."…You LIKE her!"  
"…What about it?!" I scowled angrily.  
"Don't. You're just gonna get her hurt."  
"If you're threatening her, I swear to GOD I will fucking kill you right here!" I pressed hard against his forehead with my index finger.  
"Let me rephrase that, then…" Ketchum held his hands up in surrender, slowly trying to climb to his feet without the use of his hands. "...As long as you remain the way you've been ever since I met you, you're going to hurt her. You think she wants to date a psycho killer?"  
"I'm trying to make a better world." I said.  
"For who, Wayne?! Who's gonna be left?!"Ketchum shouted, causing my eyes to widen considerably. He took this opportunity to continue. "If you stick to your word, that girl will have to die as well, since she's human! It's just gonna be you!"  
"I…"  
"Is that what you want, to be alone for the rest of your life?! Cause that's exactly what you're accomplishing by wiping out the human race!"  
"Now you li—"  
"NO! YOU listen! Obviously you don't hate humans NEARLY as much as you claim, or you wouldn't have started to develop feelings for one!"  
"Shut up. I don't have to listen to this, Ketchum, and I refuse to listen any further…" I said, relaxing my index finger. "Next time we meet, you die. No more speeches about how I'm wrong and you're right…no more taunting me…no more horseshit from you about how I'm going to hurt everybody I care about…because I don't care what you have to say, nothing's going to stop me from reaching my goal. I don't care because…nobody cares for me."  
"Wayne…" Ketchum looked away, and then looked back at me. "Stop this. Please…if you care about her at all…"  
"…" I turned and noticed Aimee standing with Jenny, Yusuke, and Danny. "I can't. It's too late to stop it, Ash…" I trailed off, turning around and walking out of the Nasty Burger. Seconds later, I heard Aimee call out. "Wayne!"  
"Sorry." I said, without turning around. "I have to go. I don't imagine you'll want to see me again." and before she could answer, I turned to the few people who were still around.  
"…What are you looking at?!" I said, my voice cracking. "Show's over. Go home already." I finished speaking, and then left the vicinity in a hurry.

"Master, what's wrong?" Motoko asked, showing actual concern for me as I entered the apartment, the area under my eyes having been stained red from my tears.  
"Nothing…I need you to go to the Ghost Zone and gather up every ghost you can find. We're gonna wipe Amity Park right off the map!" I explained.  
"You're not alright, with all due respect. I have never seen you cr—" Motoko started to express some more concern, but I found myself not wanting any, so I cut her off.  
"By 'I need you to go into the Ghost Zone and blah, blah, blah, etc.', I mean NOW." I said, growling.  
"But sir—"  
"JUST DO WHAT I ASK, MOTOKO! I DON'T NEED YOUR FUCKING PITY!" I yelled, causing her to flinch. Seconds after the fact, she simply nodded and walked out of the apartment to do my bidding.  
"That damn Ash Ketchum…he's managed to ruin the ONE good thing that's happened to me in forever…" I sighed. A familiar voice rang out in my mind.  
"You did that to yourself. You do that to yourself EVERY time." It couldn't be…Riku?! No…I must have imagined it.  
"You are imagining me, but you know I'd say this to your face if I were here with you."  
"…" I remained silent, as he continued on.  
"It's time for a change. Break away from that damn demon."  
"Forget it boy, he's mine. He's been mine since LONG before you knew him. He was mine from the moment his parents died." I heard that wretched apparition whisper, in the darkest recesses of my mind.  
"If you think I'm so wretched, then cast me out. I'm sure a priest could exercise me. But you won't go to a priest, will you? You WANT me here…" Not anymore. Not ever again.  
"But with me here, you've gotten away with murder…you have powers no mortal Halfling should ever possess." I earned those powers on my own, training long and hard under Master Zenki!  
"Zenki was my puppet, just as you are now…ironic, isn't it?" Is…is this what I've been doing to other people the entire time?!  
"Of course it is! You can talk big, but when it gets right down to it, we're EXACTLY THE SAME." No…NO! I'M NOTHING LIKE YOU!  
"Of course you are…you ARE me! You've BEEN me since you've been under Zenki's wing!" Impossible! I remember thinking on my own back then, feeling! I thought of him as a second father!  
"And all that time, I was inside of you, growing in power…soon enough, I'll be powerful enough to take my own form. And then you'll be free from me…forever…" the apparition laughed.  
"Shut up, you worthless demon!" Riku's voice sounded out again from out of nowhere, causing me to breathe a small sigh of relief. "Wayne, the sins you've committed are heavy, but there IS hope for you. It's that girl. Your old self awakened when she was around. Ash was wrong. You would never willingly let her get hurt." That's insane…I just met her yesterday! "You know I'm right, Wayne…"  
"…I know." I spoke out loud, and all of a sudden, I felt a wave of nausea come over me. I charged across the room toward the one bathroom in the apartment, but just before I reached the door, I lurched over and vomited…something. It was far more disgusting than any normal vomit. It appeared to be a black blob of some sort. Cautiously, I reached into my pocket and grabbed a handkerchief, reaching for a small piece of the blob. Before I could accomplish the task I'd set out to do, though, the blob came to life and latched onto my arm. With a startled cry and expert reflexes honed through the eight years I trained with Master Zenki, I fired a Devil Gun, exploding the blob into many tiny bits, which were splattered on my floor and wall. I heard a gasp come from behind me, and as I turned around, I was extremely surprised to see Aimee standing there in my doorway, eyes wide.  
"Aimee…?!" I couldn't believe my eyes…I thought she would want nothing to do with me, and yet, here she was, in my doorway.  
"Why did you leave so suddenly? I mean—" she started, but I cut her off.  
"Because I realized I'm a horrible monster." I said, looking away from her. "I've killed people…people who weren't doing anything wrong or unjust. It didn't matter to me. I didn't want to hurt you…"  
"You've got a lot of shit to sort through, but…I want to help you, Wayne. Killing people is a HORRIBLE thing, yes, but something tells me you've changed in the extremely short time we've known each other."  
"It's because I'm me again." I said, turning around with an extremely rare smile on my face. "My conscience FINALLY resurfaced…and I know nothing I can do can EVER make up for what I've done, but at least I'm back to normal…"  
"What are you talking about?" Aimee asked, looking confused.  
"See those black chunks sprayed on my floor and wall? That…THING…if I'm not mistaken…it controlled me for eight years." I said, turning back to the splattered chunks. "It claimed to be with me since the night my parents died."  
"Your parents died? What happened?" Aimee walked over to me and put her hand on my left shoulder. All of a sudden, Lancer's words from earlier today came rushing back to my mind.  
"…maybe you should get everything off your chest soon." The words echoed in my mind for a few seconds, before I sighed and motioned for Aimee to sit down. As she sat on my bed, so did I. After a few seconds of silence, I FINALLY began to reveal my past for the first time ever, telling her stuff that even Janine wasn't aware of…  
"…El'her isn't a city. It's a planet. I was born there sixteen years ago, into the royal family. I was the youngest of three children, but my siblings had a different biological mother than I did. My elder brother was rumored to have died in a border dispute when I was four." I swallowed hard, and then continued. "A coup d'état took place when I was six. A man named Cassion Aladar led a small force into the royal palace and murdered my parents. I was only able to escape because of Cedric, the man who served as my parents' advisor, holding off Cassion's troops. I was carried away from the carnage by my older sister, Janine. I wanted to go back and stop the madness that had been unleashed, but with Janine helping me out, I couldn't go back…" I felt my vision become blurry, knowing I was about to cry again. "She was ALWAYS there for me, and she ALWAYS tried to steer me in the right direction…but I never listened. I treated her like shit for years..."  
"It's not too late to start over with her. You're starting over with me now, right?" I sniffed and nodded, brushing away my tears. "I'm sorry…please continue."  
"After Janine dragged me out of the palace, we were found by a Grim Reaper named Botan." I explained, my thoughts trailing back to the blue-haired ferry girl who worked for Enma. I still could remember her reaching out and grabbing Janine's hand as she flew by, lifting us both onto the oar she was riding.  
"Botan teleported us to another planet…the one we're standing on right now." I stomped my right foot on the floor for emphasis. "When we arrived, we were shortly thereafter kidnapped by Team Rocket and quickly shaped into assassins. I was assigned to a special task force sent out to assassinate the leader of a rival team. We were ambushed, and I was the only survivor. I gave chase, but… I was woefully outnumbered. The only reason I'm standing here today is because a man showed up and brutally murdered those worthless pieces of shit. That man soon became my master… his name was Zenki. I studied with him from the time I turned seven to the time I turned fifteen." I paused once again, swallowing kind of hard before continuing. "I haven't seen him in a year and a half, but I have heard rumors that he died."

Aimee remained silent for a few seconds, before putting both of her arms around me.  
"I'm so sorry…no one should ever have to go through what you have." She said, squeezing me.  
"Good job, Wayne…I'm proud of you." Came a voice in my mind that I hadn't heard in over ten years…Father?  
"Yes…at least, what you remember of me." his voice spoke up again. How the hell could he be proud of me? I've killed FAR too many people in my lifetime.  
"But you acknowledge your error, and will spend your life from this point on doing the right thing…" It won't change anything!  
"Who says it won't?!" came another voice from my past. This one was more recent. Master…  
"Of course it is…do you HONESTLY think I'm dead?!" he asked, and I subconsciously shook my head.  
"Why are you shaking your head?" Aimee asked, and I spoke up.  
"They're…proud of me."  
"Who?"  
"My father…and Master Zenki. They told me they were proud of me as well…this makes me…happy I feel…fulfilled! I'm…free!" I said, tears rolling down my face."I'm finally free!" I shouted, hugging Aimee back as hard as I could.  
"So what now?" she asked, turning her head toward me. I smiled, and in response, I closed the distance between her lips and mine…


	39. The Revenge of Vexus!

PokeWing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 39: The Revenge of Vexus  
A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

Disclaimers are in episodes 1, 25, and there's a special one in 38. Go read those first, this episode MIGHT make a little more sense then.

* * *

"What?!" Ash shouted, in complete disbelief.  
"You heard me, Ketchum…you win." Wayne smiled. "I give up."  
"This is some sort of trick, isn't it?" Ash asked incredulously.  
"Not at all… I thought about what you said, and what Lancer had told me yesterday." Wayne explained. "Plus, Aimee helped me get something off of my chest that I've needed to get off for quite some time."  
"…Good for you." Ash finally smiled.  
"So your mission's over now?" Wayne asked.  
"No. One thing still remains." Ash's look changed to a determined one.  
"The Spirit Stone…" Wayne finished. "You can handle it, correct?"  
"You're not offering to help look for it?" Ash looked shocked.  
"I figure if I did, you'd think I was trying to backstab you."  
"Well…yeah, I would." Ash admitted.  
"Ergo, to prove that I've changed, I'm going to sit back and let you handle it. It's more your destiny than mine anyway." Wayne sighed.  
"Wait…what do you mean by that?"  
"You'll see…Enma probably has a good reason for not mentioning anything to you." Wayne said mysteriously, then turned around and walked off.  
"Looks like I have another question for Enma…" Ash said, raising his hand to his chin and cupping it as he stared at the double doors leading out of Casper High, before heading out the doors himself. As he exited and walked back toward his apartment, though, he failed to take notice of the sleek blue and white robot that dropped from the sky onto the rooftops of Casper High.  
"Isn't that the Ketchum boy…?" Vexus asked, staring at him, and then realizing it was indeed Ash, she grinned wickedly.  
"If he's here, then so is Wayne…I can kill two birds with one stone…perfect." she laughed, before flying off into the heart of Amity Park, intent on murdering both Ash and Wayne…

* * *

(Title) The Revenge of Vexus!  
(Subtitle) She's ba-ack!  
(Jingle) Electric Guitar  
(Image) Ash, Riku, and Wayne are all looking up in horror at a shadowy, laughing Vexus.

* * *

Ash continued down the road, unaware of the fact that Vexus was following him. A few seconds later, he ran into Mac, Bloo, Timmy, and Jimmy on the sidewalk outside of Condo Ketchum.  
"Hey guys…what's going on?" Ash asked the kids/imaginary friend.  
"Well, uh…" Mac trailed off.  
"We'll tell you about it later. Why're you so happy?" Timmy asked.  
"…It's over." Ash said simply. "We win. Wayne surrendered to me about ten minutes ago."  
"Whoa! You're kidding!" Bloo called out, shocked.  
"Not at all…at least, I think…" Ash said, once again cupping his chin in his right hand.  
"Good…then we won't have any regrets about this." Mac said.  
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Ash looked puzzled.  
"…We're going home." Mac announced. "The four of us are leaving."  
"But…but why…?" Ash asked.  
"We're more of a hindrance than a help to you." Jimmy explained. "Besides…I'm a man of science. I'm not cut out for fighting ghosts and searching for magical objects, neither of which, mind you, I believed in until I met you guys."  
"Particularly…" Mac began. "…Bloo and I haven't really been around much fighting aside from the regular pummeling I used to get from my brother Terrence. I don't think we'd help you nearly as much as Jenny, Yusuke, and Danny would…"  
"Maybe, maybe not, but it doesn't mean I don't want you guys around!" Ash protested. "You're my friends, no matter how young you guys are!"  
"Hey, I'm only two years younger than you!" Jimmy argued.  
"Jimmy!" Timmy chastised, and then continued what Jimmy was trying to say. "It doesn't matter where we are, Ash…we'll be buds forever."  
"Buds forever…" Ash murmured. "Well…I'll miss you guys."  
"We'll miss you too, Ash." Jimmy said. "Crap. I've never been good with goodbyes…"  
"Then just say 'See ya later.'" Ash smirked. "It's not like we'll never see each other again. If another transdimensional case pops up, I may need your help figuring shit out."  
"I'll hold ya to that, Ketchum." Jimmy returned Ash's smirk.  
"So, are ya leaving right away? Should I get the guys?" Ash asked.  
"Nah, we're waiting for Enma to show up and help us with locating a dimensional rift that'll take us back home. Besides, Enma said he had a surprise for you guys." Mac said.  
"Surprise? What's he got going on in his head now?" Ash wondered aloud, still unaware of Vexus's presence. As the five friends sat and made mindless chatter for the next few minutes, Vexus gazed on, awaiting the perfect opportunity to strike…  
"And then Jimmy tried to make your beer taste good with some new invention." Timmy casually explained.  
"Utter failure, that." Jimmy groaned. "All it did was make it taste even MORE nasty. I swear, I'm never touching alcohol again."  
"Ha! I would've paid to see the look on your face, dude!" Ash laughed, causing Mac, Bloo, and Timmy to laugh as well.  
"It's not THAT funny…" Jimmy grumbled, as the other four continued to laugh. Just then, a rift opened up before them.  
"Well, looks like it's time..." Ash said, gazing longingly into the rift.  
"No…Enma told us it'd be another couple of hours." Jimmy explained.  
"Then what's a rift doing here…?" Ash asked.  
"Obviously I needed to see you about something." came Enma's voice as he walked through the open rift.  
"Enma." Ash bowed his head slightly.  
"Are you sick?" Enma asked, his eyebrows arching. "You don't EVER show me any respect!"  
"I guess I'm just in a good mood." Ash explained, causing Enma to smirk.  
"Would that be because Wayne told you he surrendered?"  
"…How did you…?"  
"He contacted me about ten minutes ago." Enma explained. "He asked that I bring someone with me…" and as he finished speaking, Botan stepped out of the portal.  
"Botan? Why is she here?"  
"Based on the fact that he asked for me…I would assume I was right months ago when I said that he was the boy I saved on El'her ten years ago." Botan said, her mind seemingly in an entirely different place.  
"Still doesn't explain why he wants to see you…" Ash muttered.  
"Probably no other reason than to either thank me or ask me why I didn't leave him there to die."  
"Is this the surprise you had for me?" Ash suddenly turned to Enma, who smirked once again and shook his head.  
"No, that would be THEM." Enma said, then stuck his hand inside the rift, seemingly motioning for the man he was talking about to step out, and sure enough, out stepped…  
"Howdy, Ash!" came the hearty greeting of Ayumu Kasuga, who stood next to Riku Kurosawa as they both bowed slightly.  
"Osaka?! Riku?!" Ash nearly shouted in surprise. "What're THEY doing here?!"  
"As these four have most likely told you…" Enma motioned to Mac, Bloo, Jimmy, and Timmy. "They're going home. In order to balance out their departure, I'm bringing Riku and Ayumu here. Riku's punishment has passed."  
"How DID he punish you anyway?" Ash asked, looking up at Riku.  
"I don't want to talk about it." Riku stated blankly.  
"S'okay! I've got pictures!" Osaka held up some photographs of Riku's "punishment". Ash stared silently for a few seconds before his eyes grew comically wide and he let out riotous laughter.  
"Yeah, not that funny, Ketchum…" Riku muttered angrily. "Why ARE we here? Wayne gave up." Enma didn't answer immediately, as he and Botan joined in the laughter.  
"Enma!" Enma continued to laugh.  
"ENMA!" Riku bellowed, and Enma finally calmed down.  
"Sorry, sorry…you're here to keep the promise you made to Keitaro Urashima AND to find the Spirit Stone. Ayumu's here because…well…you know why." Enma explained.  
"…?" Ash looked puzzled, looking back and forth between Riku and Osaka. "Y'mean…him and her…?"  
"Yes, we're a couple…" Riku muttered.  
"Hey hey, congrats man!" Ash surprised Riku by cheering him on rather than laughing.  
"T…thanks." Riku stammered. "…Wasn't honestly expecting that reaction…"  
"Yeah, well…" Ash started, but was cut off by Bloo.  
"So…have you guys…y'know…done it?" the amorphous blob of imaginary goo asked.  
"Just cause I'm on your side now DOESN'T mean I can't kick your ass." Riku's eyes narrowed comically.  
"He'll do it too." came a voice most of them once either feared or were wary of. Ash turned his head and saw Wayne standing a few feet away, dressed in slightly more casual wear. His green dress shirt had been replaced by a black, short-sleeved shirt, his brown khakis had been ditched in favor of faded blue jeans, and his trademark white lab coat was completely absent.  
"Wow. You look…different." Jimmy commented.  
"It's all part of that 'Trying to atone for what I've done' thing." Wayne explained, then turned his head to Botan. "You came…thank you."  
"Is that all you have to say to me?" Botan asked, her eyebrows arching in anger.  
"That, and I'm sorry…I know it couldn't have been easy realizing I was one of those kids you saved. I wonder what the world would be like if you'd just left me there to die." Wayne looked away.  
"It's too late for that, now isn't it?!" Botan said, her voice raised. "Do you have ANY idea how many people you've killed?!"  
"Directly? Approximately seven BILLION." Wayne said. "Every one of those deaths that I've witnessed firsthand has been playing over and over again in my mind ever since I regained control…every single death…" he trailed off. "That's why I'm here…Enma…" he looked directly into the eyes of Spirit World's ruler. "…I want to go to Hell."  
"WHAT?!" everybody but Enma cried out in extreme shock.  
"Hell exists?!" Jimmy looked completely dumbfounded.  
"What do you think Spirit World exists for?" Enma responded. "Botan and other Grim Reapers bring me souls, and from there I send them to either Heaven or Hell...or in special cases, such as Ash…I bring the soul back to life."  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa…" Timmy halted Enma's explanation for a second to make an exclamation of surprise. "Ash, you DIED?!"  
"That one was my fault too." Wayne said, looking down.  
"Did he shiv you when you weren't looking, or—" Bloo started to ask, but was cut off by Ash, whose gaze was alternating between Enma and Wayne.  
"He broke my neck with a pebble."  
"Whoa…seriously?!" Mac asked, stunned at the idea that one's neck could be broken with a mere pebble.  
"That…and a buttload of Spirit Energy to propel it at the speed of sound." Wayne affirmed. "Anyway…I need to atone for my crimes."  
"So atone for them with your life." Enma said. "And by that…I mean live each day realizing the gravity that your past actions have had, and still have, on the people in the Dimensional Universe."  
"But…"  
"No buts, you coward!" Botan shouted. "It's because of YOU that we were backed up for a whole MONTH with lost souls from the Azu Dimension! Every single one of those people, dead! They didn't do anything to you, but you killed them anyway! Why?! To show you were tougher than Ash?! Well mission accomplished, you wretched son of a bitch!"  
"There's no excuse for what I did, and I'm not going to make one…" Wayne trailed off, swallowed hard, and then continued after a minute of silence. "Possessed or not, there was some small part of me that wanted to lash out at the entire universe for what had happened to me…"  
"Poor you." Riku responded coldly. "I'd feel the TINIEST bit sorry for you if you hadn't done everything to yourself."  
"I don't deny that, and I don't expect any of you to feel sorry for me." Wayne calmly explained. "What I do expect is some form of punishment for my crimes."  
"Why? It'll 'ease your conscience'?!" Enma asked, anger evident in his voice. "No. I will NOT send you to Hell, Wayne. Here's what's going to happen instead…" he trailed off, holding his hand up. As he did so, a small anklet appeared in his outstretched hand.  
"You're going to wear this." Enma said, handing it to Wayne, who wordlessly put it on.  
"What is it?" Wayne asked as soon as he strapped it onto his ankle.  
"That's a bomb." Enma smirked. "If you betray us, I'll set it off, and you won't be a threat anymore..."  
"WHOA." Ash's eyes went wide. "That's…harsh."  
"You have a better plan, Ash?" Enma asked, his eyebrows slanting in anger. "It doubles as a tracking device, so I know where you are and what you're doing from here on out. If you prove yourself trustworthy, I'll deactivate the bomb, but the tracking device is to remain on you at least until we reclaim the Spirit Stone."  
"We…?" Wayne's eyes also widened.  
"Yes. Your punishment is this: you are to join in the search for the Spirit Stone, as well as do any other menial task I ask of you. From this day forward, Wayne Williams…" Enma turned around, seemingly for dramatic effect. "…You're a Spirit Detective."  
"What?!" Riku and Osaka exclaimed, seeming to be pissed.  
"I can tell you two are angry about my decision." Enma turned to Riku and Osaka, "Get over it."  
"Fuck this!" Riku shouted angrily. "I'm out. If Wayne's gonna be on this team, I want nothing to do with this."  
"I SAID get over it." Enma's voice got dangerously loud. "You were JUST like him before reforming, Riku, so I don't want to hear any complaints you have."  
"But…"  
"NO buts!" Enma snapped. "You know, you can sit there and say you've changed all you want, but if you refuse to accept that someone else might have changed as well, then you really haven't changed as much as you think you have! Wayne's working this case, and so are you! DEAL WITH IT!"  
"…" Riku frowned.  
"Is this really necessary? The worst we'll have to deal with is Masters." Ash said, shrugging. "I've kicked his ass before, there's no reason I can't do it again."  
"It's necessary, trust me. If the shit were to hit the fan, for some reason...you'll need all the help you can get." Enma explained.  
"Whatever ya say, Enma." Ash said, nodding. "I'm really not in the mood to contest more help, but there is something I wanted to know."  
"I think I know what you're going to ask, and for now, it'll have to wait. Boys, I'll have the individual portals ready for you in a couple of hours."  
"Aye-aye, mon capitan!" Bloo cheerfully saluted Enma, eliciting a chuckle from the other three boys.  
We'd better get going, sir…" Botan said, turning to Enma quickly, before turning her head to gaze angrily at Wayne. "…You want to thank me for saving your life?"  
"Yes." Wayne answered without hesitation.  
"Then prove you've changed. Help Ash find the Spirit Stone. Put an end to this conflict once and for all." Botan said, turning her head back toward Enma.  
"And with that, I bid the lot of you adieu." Enma said, turning and walking back into the portal, Botan following close behind him. As the portal closed, the eight teens/boys/imaginary friend stood there in silence for a few seconds.  
"…So what now?" Osaka asked.  
"Now we find the Spirit Stone ASAP." Riku stated bluntly. "The sooner the better."  
"Couldn't agree more." Wayne said, the tone in his voice sounding vaguely determined.  
"We don't need your help for this, go on back home." Riku ordered coldly.  
"I'm afraid I can't do that, Riku." Wayne shrugged.  
"Well I'm not working with you. I don't believe for one SECOND you've changed."  
"Don't blame you for that." Wayne's simple response was. "I ALSO don't expect you to believe me."  
"Would you stop that?!" Riku grumbled. "It's REALLY annoying. Get angry! Do something aside from feeling sorry for yourself!"  
"That's not what I'm doing at all!" Wayne's tone of voice finally changed, sounding a bit angry. "I just want to pay for my crimes, is that so much to ask?!"  
"Then let's start immediately." Ash interrupted the small skirmish between the two of them. He motioned to Jimmy. "You can help with one last thing, can't ya?"  
"Sure. Whaddaya need, Ash?"  
"I need you and Wayne to help upgrade the Rift Locator. We're going to modify it into a Spirit Stone locator."  
"Huh?!" Jimmy and Wayne both looked shocked.  
"Wayne knows what kind of energy it gives off and what it looks like. You know how this device works and how to modify it. Now that we know about the Central Dimension, the Rift Locator's usefulness has dwindled considerably. I figure this'll help us find it within the next couple of days."  
"Okay, yeah, sure. Wayne, can you sketch it for me?" Jimmy asked.  
"Yeah, I'm gonna need some paper and a pencil." Wayne motioned to Ash, who took off his backpack and got out a pencil and some paper, as well as his Algebra book. He handed all three things to Wayne, who plopped down onto the sidewalk, sitting cross-legged as he used Ash's book for a pad to draw on, as he sketched a small orb with what looked like a flame in the middle of it.  
"So that's what it looks like…" Ash stared in wonder, before closing his eyes, as if he were thinking of something. "Why does it look so familiar…?"  
"The Kamoa, from what I've heard, used to guard these stones." Wayne explained.  
"Oh…" Ash trailed off for a few seconds, before his eyes widened considerably. "Wait a second…THESE stoneS?!"  
"Yeah…didn't Enma tell you? There are four Spirit Stones. One for each of the four elements. The one I've been after is the Fire Stone."  
"…SON OF A BITCH!" Ash yelled, before turning to Riku. "THAT'S what you meant when you said it wouldn't end with him!" he gestured to Wayne.  
"…Kind of." Riku said. "I was more referring to the demon inside of Wayne."  
"The demon is dead." Wayne responded. "I killed it yesterday."  
"What…?!" Riku looked shocked.  
"Yeah…I destroyed the demon that's been taking control of me."  
"I don't believe it." Riku said, in disbelief.  
"It happened."  
"No. It didn't. I doubt that demon's gone for good."  
"I blew him into several chunks on my bedroom wall! I KNOW he's dead!"  
"It's a demon, Wayne. It's not going to die just cause you shot it ONE time. They're made of tougher stuff than that."  
"Oh for God's sake, would BOTH of you SHUT UP?!" Ash interrupted angrily. "Wayne, give Jimmy the damn paper so we can finish this up and go home!" Wayne, somewhat taken aback by Ash's angry outburst, meekly handed Jimmy the paper. Jimmy immediately got to work on reprogramming the Rift Locator.  
"Hmph…we're wasting time here." Riku grumbled. "We know it's somewhere in the Ghost Zone, thanks to Masters. Let's just hijack the Fenton Ghost Portal and tear the zone apart to find it."  
"Yeah, THERE'S a good idea." Wayne argued. "You realize the Ghost Zone's a potentially limitless expanse of ghostly energy, right? Or, to simplify…" he trailed off his eyes narrowing. "It's entirely possible there isn't any end to the Ghost Zone."  
"Better than sitting here and doing nothing!" Riku shot back. "You're not the only person presumably looking for it…did you ever once consider that Masters wanted it for himself?!"  
"What do you…" Wayne started, but was cut off by Riku speaking up again.  
"Masters approached you asking for information regarding the Spirit Stone, didn't he?"  
"…Yes. Yes he did. I told him I'd only give it to him if he guaranteed me the background information on Ketchum here."  
"So that's why Masters had my file!" Ash said, shocked a tad at the revelation.  
"Since he went through with his end of the deal, I assumed he could be trusted."  
"Well why didn't you just go to the Ghost Zone and get him the Spirit Stone while you were at it, 'hero'?!" Riku shouted. "You IDIOT! You may have doomed us all because you were obsessed with getting rid of Ash and starting your utopia! Brilliant plan, by the way! Kill everybody on the planet and make a utopia consisting entirely of YOURSELF! TOP notch thinking there, genius!"  
"Hey, screw you!" Wayne shouted back, his eyebrows slanting in rage. "I never asked to be part of this team, I don't have to sit here and put up with your crap! Just cause I don't want to end all life on the planet doesn't mean I wanna be all sunshine and daisies to everybody around me!"

* * *

"Hmm…" Vexus whispered to herself silently from her hiding place on the rooftop. "I may not have to do anything after all…Wayne and Riku look like they're about to tear each other apart already." Vexus was, however, interrupted from her soliloquy by the rooftop hatch opening and Jenny walking up to one of the lawn chairs…or, she would have done that last part if not for spotting Vexus and dropping the can of motor oil she was carrying in complete shock.  
"XJ9…" Vexus turned toward Jenny, grinning wickedly. Though a different color scheme, the evil robot was all too recognizable to her archenemy.  
"…VEXUS?! It CAN'T be!" Jenny's eyes were as wide as dinner plates. "Ash blew your head off, and then Riku smashed it!"  
"Thank you for the unnecessary reminder, Jennifer. Riku may have smashed my head, but he failed to destroy my personality matrix…my 'heart', so to speak." Vexus explained, waving her hand in front of herself, as if to visually demonstrate something. "As you know, if our matrixes aren't destroyed, we can be restored as many times as our builders deem fit...or in my case, since I murdered the man who built me, my servants…"  
"Well…" Jenny trailed off, staring down Vexus. "Since your servants aren't here, then no one will ever be able to put you back together when I break you again!"

"Oh, DO try!" Vexus laughed, as Jenny charged her, throwing a flurry of punches at the queen of Cluster Prime, who took every one of them without even trying to dodge. As Jenny slowed her furious assault, she stared on in something resembling abject horror, as Vexus emerged from the barrage without a scratch. "But then again, you'll fail…it's your destiny, Jennifer. Just like it's Ash's destiny to fail, And Riku's…and Wayne's."  
"Wayne, yes…but Ash is destined to succeed! He's the last Kamoa, and there's nothing you or anyone else can do to stop him!" Jenny argued.  
"Really, now?" Vexus grinned, and the grin widened seconds later when she voiced her realization. "You LIKE him, don't you?"  
"What's that got to do with anything?!" Jenny shouted in response, raising her fists once again.  
"Oh, nothing really…" Vexus trailed off, before her right arm transformed into a minigun. Jenny gasped, right before being peppered ruthlessly with bullets.  
"If you…OOF…think this is gonna…UGH…stop me, your minions must've installed a dumbass program when they rebuilt you!" Jenny challenged.  
"I don't. It's not meant to…" Vexus trailed off, as her left arm emerged next to Jenny and plunged into her stomach, causing Jenny's eyes to widen as she dropped to her knees.  
"THAT, however, IS."  
"Urk…!" Jenny gasped, collapsing.  
"That's that." Vexus grinned evilly, as her right arm reverted and she brushed her hands together as if to dust them off. She started to walk toward the rooftop exit, but was grabbed by Jenny.  
"S…top…Vex…us…" Jenny said, weakly.  
"You won't die from that, obviously, but if I considered you a threat anymore I'd have aimed MUCH higher. You can tell Ketchum, Wayne, and Riku about me, if you stay conscious long enough. Tell them I'll be waiting for them at the football field at that wretched high school! Tell them to come at sunset!" she laughed, as her blue and white insect-like wings spread. She shook Jenny's hand off of her foot and flew off. Seconds later, Yusuke opened the hatch to the roof.  
"Hey Jen, were ya shooting those damned ghost buzzards aga—" Yusuke cut himself off as he gazed in horror at Jenny's body, which lay prone on the rooftop walkway. "Oh SHIT! JEN!" he shouted, then glanced around, running over to the edge and seeing Ash and the others sitting there.  
"ASH! STOP MAKING OUT WITH YOUR BOYFRIENDS AND GET UP HERE!" Yusuke shouted at the top of his lungs.  
"What the…?!" Ash shouted back up.  
"JEN'S HURT!"  
"What?!" Ash looked stunned, then raced over to the front door, Jimmy, Timmy, Mac, Bloo, Riku, Osaka, and Wayne in tow.

As the eight rushed to the roof, Yusuke was visibly surprised to see Wayne…that surprise then quickly turned to anger.  
"YOU! YOU did this, didn't you?!" he pointed an accusing finger at Wayne. "And what the fuck are you doing here anyway?!"  
"Wayne turned himself in." Mac explained. "Now he's on our side."  
"Whoa, what?!" Yusuke stared, slack-jawed.  
"Bigger problems right now!" Wayne griped, throwing his hands up in exasperation.  
"Jenny…" Ash bent down and examined the hole. "Jimmy, can you fix her?"  
"I should be able to…but what did this to her?!" Jimmy wondered aloud. Jenny weakly answered.  
"V…Vexus…"  
"VEXUS?!" Riku shouted in disbelief. "Impossible! I smashed her head under my foot! You and Ash both SAW me do it!"  
"Obviously you failed at disposing of her properly…did you even THINK to make sure you destroyed her robot brain?!" Wayne angrily interrogated Riku.  
"I figured she wasn't coming back from having her body destroyed..." Riku sighed.  
"Did you forget she has an entire ROBOT ARMY at her command?!" Wayne continued on. "You can get mad at me all you want for not checking to make sure my demon was dead, but you're just as bad as I am!"  
"Would you both SHUT UP?!" Ash roared, then pointed to Riku and Wayne simultaneously. "If the two of you are gonna do NOTHING but bicker, I don't need you ninnies! You're BOTH fucking USELESS!" he then proceeded to point at Bloo. "He eats all the chips, doesn't do any work around the apartment, and has fought all of TWO battles since we got here, and he's more useful than EITHER of you! So do me a favor…get the fuck out of my sight, NOW!" he breathed heavily as he finished shouting. Pausing for a second, Wayne huffed and turned around.  
"Very well. I don't need you or Riku. I'll go take care of Vexus myself. Jenny…where did she say she was going?!"  
"Football…field…" Jenny gasped out, before Jimmy walked over with some tools and some scrap metal to begin her repairs.  
"I'm gonna have to power you down for the time being, Jenny." Jimmy explained. "I'll reboot you when I'm finished, okay?"  
"Thanks…I'm sorry, Ash…"  
"Don't talk, just rest. I'll go take care of Vexus once and for all." Ash's eyes narrowed, as he turned once again toward Wayne and Riku. "And if EITHER of you idiots gets in my way…I'll KILL you." Ash said, his voice an angry growl, before storming off.  
"Ash, wait!" Yusuke shouted.  
"Go with Wayne." Ash ordered gruffly.  
"What?!" came the reply of both Yusuke and Wayne.  
"I don't trust you, and I KNOW Yusuke doesn't trust you either. And since you can't keep out of this…I'll feel a TINY bit better if he goes with you." Ash looked down for a second. "If you stay out of my way, you'll have earned my trust." He then sprouted his wings and flew off toward the football field.  
"Well then…" Wayne trailed off.  
"We need to take care of this problem before anyone else gets hurt." Riku said, apparently to Osaka, as she nodded in response.  
"Is this Vexus strong?" Osaka asked, a concerned look on her face.  
"She was a low-grade weakling when I killed her the first time." Riku explained. "I can only hope she got in a lucky shot on Jenny rather than doing this with little to no effort."  
"I don't know…do you think she got stronger?" Wayne asked Riku in earnest. Riku's response was to walk toward the hatch.  
"I was asking you an honest question…and I'll take care of Vexus. It's my fault she turned into this anyway."  
"…I'm the one who stomped her head in…" Riku said. "She wants me, more than likely."  
"I'm the one who ordered you to kill her. If she's after anybody, she's after me."  
"Or, she could be after you both…" Yusuke interjected. "And Ash, as well…"  
"Well, Ash DID blow her head off prior to me stomping it." Riku admitted.  
"We've wasted enough time. Ketchum's probably at the football stadium by now. Yusuke, we need to go by my apartment first…I need to get my sword." Wayne explained.  
"Wait, you don't live in that crappy warehouse?" Yusuke looked puzzled.  
"Of COURSE I don't live there! Who the hell WOULD?!" Wayne griped.  
"I dunno…just didn't picture you as an apartment going guy." Yusuke shrugged.  
"In the time it took for you to ask me that question, we could've already been outside of the apartment." Wayne slapped his head with his right hand.  
"Right, right. Let's get going." Yusuke said, running over to the side of the building and actually jumping to the ground. As he landed, he looked over and saw Jazz, with her right index finger raised.  
"What are you gawking at?" Yusuke asked.  
"Uh…"  
"Oh right, the building jumping. Would LOVE to explain that, but I gotta go kick some ass."  
"Right, right…" Jazz waved her hand. "Go crack some skulls and all that. Tutoring tomorrow night?"  
"I'll be there with bells on!" Yusuke shouted as he ran off. Seconds later, Wayne emerged from Condo Ketchum and stared at Jazz.  
"Uh…wow…this is not my apartment." He explained, starting to walk off as he whistled.  
"Wait, I get Yusuke, he lives there, but what the hell are you doing there? I thought you didn't like Ash!"  
"LONG story, promise to tell you after I kick the evil robot's ass!" Wayne called back as he ran off.  
"Tutoring tomorrow night?" Jazz repeated.  
"Yeah, I'll actually show up this time!" Wayne promised as he ran off.  
"Cool! See ya then!" Jazz called out, then stopped and questioned aloud "Evil robot?"

* * *

Vexus stared on with an evil grin as Ash landed on the opposite side of the football field.  
"Well, well…Ash Ketchum. I must say, it's a surprise to see you with wings now. Explain." Vexus pointed at Ash.  
"Yeah, turns out I'm the last member of an ancient time-guardian race. But that's a story for never again…what's with your paint job?"  
"I'm told blue and white is in this year."  
"Good thing it's not after Labor Day, then. So yeah…I saw what you did to Jenny, and I was thinking…you obviously didn't learn your lesson LAST time I decapitated you."  
"I'm a slow learner, what can I say?" Vexus's eyes narrowed. "But I'm glad you brought that up…I owe you BIG time for that. How about I return the favor?"  
"Thanks, but I rather LIKE my head…I got my hair styled ju-ust the way I like it. But since you came all this way, I'll tell you what I'm gonna do…I'm gonna BISECT you." Ash's eyes narrowed angrily.  
"As I told Jennifer before…DO try, Ketchum." Vexus cackled.  
"Don't mind if I DO!" Ash shouted, launching into the sequence for his Spirit Slash. As the energy gathered around his feet, Vexus's brow furrowed.  
"Well, that's new."  
"Yeah. Yeah it is. S'my Spirit Slash." Ash explained, as the energy finished gathering into his sword. He jumped into the air and unleashed the blue blade of energy, with a shout of "WHAMMY!" The blade collided and cut easily through Vexus, whose eyes widened drastically as her torso split apart. Ash stood, awaiting the explosion, but to his shock and horror, there was no explosion. Instead, robotic tendrils shot out from Vexus's head, pulling her torso back together perfectly as she grinned wickedly in an open-mouth smile.  
"What the…?!"  
"Yeah, I've been upgraded with a few new abilities." Vexus laughed, sticking her right arm out. It opened a rift and shot out, piercing Ash's right shoulder.  
"ARGH! GODDAMMIT, ARE YOU JUST OBSESSED WITH HITTING ME THERE?!" Ash shouted.  
"Actually, I only did that before now that ONE time. I believe it came before THIS!" Vexus shouted, a new rift opening and her left hand forming a fist and nailing Ash in the groin.  
"You dirty BITCH…" Ash doubled over in pain.  
"If that's all you've got, then you're hardly a threat to me at all!" Vexus challenged. "Now, what happened next…?" she grinned, walking slowly toward Ash.  
"Something like this." came a voice that made her grin instantly turn into an enraged scowl. She turned her head, but before he even came into her sight, Wayne's Devil Gun had once again decapitated her. As her head flew off, her body dropped instantly.  
"That's that." Wayne looked angrily down at Vexus's head. "Did you HONESTLY think you were gonna get rid of me? You're pathetic, Vexus."  
"Wayne…" Vexus trailed off, looking up at the former villain.  
"What?"  
"Look out!" came Yusuke's shout. Before Wayne could react, he was given a large gash on his back by Vexus's robotic claws.  
"…I can multitask." Vexus grinned evilly, as the body walked over, picked her head up, and reattached it. "And what gives you the right to call me pathetic?! Your ENTIRE TEENAGE LIFE has been spent trying to kill him!" Vexus pointed over to Ash.  
"That's…not what I want anymore." Wayne said in rebuttal.  
"What you want doesn't matter! You're not going to be alive long enough to get it!" Vexus shouted, her left arm morphing into a shotgun. "You betrayed me, you bastard! YOU don't get a second chance!" She then shot Wayne in the stomach. Wayne's eyes widened considerably before he dropped to his knees, slowly slumping to the ground.  
"Wayne!" Ash called out.  
"Too bad, so sad…" Vexus grinned. "And now for you, Ash…" As she turned around, however, she was surprised not only to see Ash on his feet again, but charging at her furiously, letting out an enraged roar as he did so. Vexus was barely able to put up a defense against the enormous flurry of slashes that Ash performed upon her.  
'His energy just SKYROCKETED!' Vexus thought to herself. 'But…' "Why…?!" Vexus spoke aloud as Ash's attack finally ended. "He meant nothing to you! He wanted to KILL you!"  
"Maybe he hates me, maybe he doesn't…I don't care. Maybe I don't trust him…but I DO respect him for wanting to do the right thing. He was trying to change…which means he had a heart. YOU DON'T." Ash growled. "ROUND 2! HERE I COME, BITCH! Ash then once again began to gather Spirit Energy around him, as he charged up another Spirit Slash. "I WON'T LOSE TO YOU! I WON'T EVER LOSE! SPIRIT…SLASH!" he roared, unleashing his energy at full force, once again splitting Vexus's torso in two. Once again, however, Vexus pulled herself together.  
"Give up, boy! You can't hope to beat me!"  
"I WON'T give in to you! If it costs me my life, I'll take you down!" Ash shouted, and as he drew his sword back again, a strange new energy began to form at his feet. This energy was green in color, and it glowed brightly.  
"Ash, no!" Yusuke shouted. "You're using Life Energy!"

* * *

As Delia sat on her couch back at the Ketchum House, she watched in horror as an old photograph of her and Ash fell, the frame shattering into millions of tiny pieces.  
"Ash…! My baby's hurt…!" she said, her eyes widening enormously.

* * *

In the middle of another training session with Ed and Al, Misty suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, in the middle of performing alchemy, her eyes widening.  
"Misty, why'd you stop?!" Ed chastised her.  
"It's Ash…he's in trouble!" she said, tears welling up in her eyes.

* * *

Ash leapt out of the way of Vexus's shotgun arm, just barely having finished gathering the needed energy for his Spirit Slash in time.  
"Dammit! TAKE THIS! ALL OF MY FUCKING HATRED, BITCH! SPIRIT SLASH!" he shouted, a green blade of energy firing from his slashing motion and flying toward Vexus, hitting her straight and true. Vexus let out an ear-piercing shriek as she split apart, bright light emanating from her and momentarily blinding both Ash and Yusuke. For a few minutes, the light lingered, and then faded, revealing…  
"You…you BASTARD!" Vexus shouted angrily. She had once again reformed, but this time, part of her shoulder was cracked. The crack gave way and broke apart, revealing her metallic shoulder bone underneath.  
"Guess you…aren't invincible after…a..all…" Ash let out a weak chuckle, before dropping to his knees. "Aw shit…" he gasped out, then collapsed.  
""Oh no, you're not dying on your own! I'M going to kill you!" Vexus shouted angrily.  
"Actually…" came another familiar voice to Vexus. "…That isn't gonna happen. I'm gonna do to you EXACTLY what I did the first time around!"  
"And the third and final person I'm looking for is here. What kept you, Riku?" Vexus turned angrily.  
"Gimme a break. I walked." Riku said, resting his right hand on his pelvis. "Actually, I think I will do things a BIT differently this time. Urameshi! Up for a game of football with her head when we're done?"  
"Uh…"  
"Oh right... you're gonna pay for what you've done, Vexus." Riku turned his head back to the evil robot.  
"You were powerful, Riku…almost on par with Wayne himself, if I recall correctly. However…I doubt that you can stand up to me in my improved body." Vexus gloated.  
"You're saying that AFTER Ash put a permanent dent in you. You realize this, right?" Riku smirked.  
"Ash is dead, Wayne is dead…YOU'RE ALL DEAD!" Vexus laughed. "So it doesn't matter what damage he did, now does it?!" As she finished speaking, she unleashed an energy beam from her left hand at Riku, who rolled out of the way, retaliating by unleashing a massive Death Ray. Vexus was sent flying instantly, and before she could land and even ATTEMPT to recover, Riku had closed the distance between them with a charge, and unleashed his version of the Fist of the Mortal Flame, Vexus landed afterward, and as the dust cleared from her impact, her left shoulder bone was now exposed.  
"Maybe the damage Ash did didn't matter…" Riku smirked again. "But now I've hurt you as well. Little by little, we're defeating you…as a team."  
"Damn…right…" came Ash's voice, in a pained moan.  
"YOU! YOU'RE STILL ALIVE?!" Vexus roared, absolutely livid.  
"Now that's…what I'm talking about…" Ash laughed weakly as he climbed to his feet.  
"GOD DAMN IT!" Vexus shouted, her eyes turning blood red. "I'LL KILL BOTH OF—" she was interrupted by a Spirit Gun from Yusuke to her back.  
"Hey bitch, I want in on the fun too." Yusuke grinned.  
"So do I." came Osaka's voice as she entered the stadium.  
"And don't forget, I'm part of this team too!" Danny announced, as he walked in.  
"I'm not a fighter, but…" Jazz started, as she walked up beside Danny. "Oh my god! What happened to Wayne?!"  
"Blew a hole in his stomach…just as I'm gonna do to ALL of you." Vexus growled.  
"You may not be Skulker…but I'll bet you break just as easily!" Danny threatened, charging an ecto blast. At the same time, Yusuke was charging a Spirit Gun Mega, and Osaka was readying a Spirit Flare. The three unleashed their attacks simultaneously, Vexus attempting to block them, but the Spirit Mega Gun managed to connect and crack open her left kneecap, exposing more of her grayish skeletal structure underneath.  
"So this is the mighty Vexus!" Yusuke mocked. "Can't take down two teens and a high-school dropout?! What happened to all that talk about killing all of us?!"  
"…DON'T MOCK ME! DON'T YOU DARE!" Vexus was enraged, and chose to express this rage by converting both of her arms into miniguns and firing blindly at Yusuke.  
"Shit, she's pissed…" Danny half-thought, half-said.  
"What are you going to do?" Jazz asked.  
"Go check on Wayne. I'll draw her fire from Yusuke." Danny said.  
"But…"  
"Just do it, Jazz! No one else is able to reach him right now!" Danny shouted.  
"G…gotcha…" Jazz nodded, but as she started to run off, Danny shouted something else to her.  
"And…I'm sorry we didn't tell you about Wayne. I promise to tell you everything if Ash won't!" Jazz made a beeline for Wayne immediately, but was intercepted by Vexus suddenly turning on her.  
"Jazz!" Danny shouted, and Ash also called out for her. She let out a scream, but was both amazed and horrified at what happened next. She was protected from the hail of bullets by Wayne springing up and leaping in front of her.  
"UGH…!" Wayne coughed up blood.  
"Oh my god! Wayne!" Jazz shouted, as he dropped to his knees again. Riku watched in horror.  
'He…saved the ghost kid's sister…?! Why would he…?!' he thought, in amazement. 'Has…has he REALLY changed?!'  
"I'm sorry…" Wayne gasped out. "I've given you nothing but grief…"  
"Why are you apologizing?!" Jazz said, tears welling up in her eyes. In the meantime, Danny had flown over to Yusuke.  
"Did he just…?" "…YEAH." Yusuke said, in shock and amazement.  
"I…I've been ditching your sessions…it's not because I don't want to learn…it's because…" Wayne said, before slipping into unconsciousness.  
"Wayne…!" Jazz frantically checked him for a pulse, then breathed a sigh of relief when she found a faint one.  
"He's still alive!" she called out.  
"But not for long…" chuckled Vexus as she walked toward the two of them. "And you'll join him in death."  
"You hurt ONE HAIR on her head…" Ash growled angrily.  
"And you'll WHAT?! In case you've forgotten, I'M the one who's winning here!" Vexus cackled evilly.  
"Excuse me." Came Riku's voice from behind Vexus. As she turned around, she was sent flying by Riku's fist.  
"DENIED." He shouted after her.  
"Good job…uh…who are you again?" Jazz asked.  
"Riku." He answered with a smile. "Riku Kurosawa. I'm… an old friend of both Ash and Wayne. Now if you'll excuse me…"  
"Oh NO YOU DON'T!" Vexus shouted angrily, her eyes glowing blood red again. "I'M GOING TO—"  
"BLOO-MERANG!" came the shout of Mac as he threw a bent Bloo like a boomerang.  
"Bloo-merang?! REALLY?!" Bloo shouted as he hit into Vexus, breaking off a bit more of her exterior, this time the area around her right eye.  
"GOD DAMN IT, HOW MANY OF YOU ARE THERE?!" Vexus roared in absolute rage.  
"Well, there's me, Mac…Yusuke, Danny—" Bloo started, but was cut off my more rage-filled roaring from Vexus.  
"IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW MANY OF YOU THERE ARE! I WILL KILL ALL OF YOU!" Vexus shouted, as both of her arms formed into SEVERAL gigantic guns. Finally, she calmed down somewhat.  
"So I was thinking of how to avoid defeat this time, and I asked my general, Smytus, to make sure I had some REALLY big guns for just such an occasion as this!" Vexus laughed.  
As she continued to laugh, Riku stood over Wayne.  
"Don't worry…it'll be okay…" he then kneeled down, placing his hand on Wayne's chest. As he did, a faint, gentle blue energy enveloped Wayne, and seconds later, he awoke.  
"R…Riku…?" Wayne asked in disbelief. "What's going on?"  
"Long story short…I need your help." Riku said. "What do ya say?"  
"…Yeah, yeah, let's do this. I assume you're still hiding at least ONE trick."  
"And likewise, though I've seen most of yours."  
"Of course I am."  
"What are you guys talking about…?!" Jazz asked, extremely confused.  
"…Why don't we SHOW you, Jazz?" Wayne smirked.

*Battle in Flash by Ami Itabashi*

*4 second intro*  
"Wayne!" Riku called out, and likewise, Wayne called out "Riku!"  
"Disciples of Zenki, UNITE!"  
*Kanashimi wo oikosu tamashii no mure*  
Wayne grinned as he pulled his hands to his right side, and purple energy started to crackle from the fists he had formed. Meanwhile, Riku formed a Spirit Katana, and fire had begun to form upon the blade.  
*Shori no ken de uchi kudaku*  
Vexus grinned evilly, turning to Wayne and Riku. "So, an old-fashioned showdown, is it?! Well GAME ON! She pointed all of her guns at the two and began to charge them.  
*Hitomi no mukou ni atarashii kaze ga fuki  
Kibo no ashita hakobu yo*  
At that moment, a purple hammer formed in Wayne's hand, and a purple ball had materialized a few feet in front of him. Meanwhile, Riku twirled his Spirit Katana around with a certain panache and grace, finally stopping after a few seconds.  
"HERE IT COMES! DEVIL'S HAMMER!" Wayne yelled, using the titular hammer to hit the glowing purple ball of energy toward Vexus. At the EXACT same time, Riku shouted "SWORD OF THE MORTAL FLAME!", launching a tall red blade of flaming energy at Vexus.  
*Battle in Flash! kono mune ni  
Hibike! You are the hero of mime*  
The two attacks met halfway, combining into a super attack that raced at light speed toward Vexus, who was unable to charge her guns in time to counter it. The blast connected head-on with her.  
*guitar solo*  
Vexus watched in absolute horror as not only her guns were destroyed, but the rest of her exterior began to crack apart. She screamed in agony as the blast caused an explosion.  
"YEAH! We did it!" Wayne cheered.  
* Hitomi no mukou ni atarashii kaze ga fuki  
Kibo no ashita hakobu yo**  
"YOU'VE DONE NOTHING! I'LL KILLLLLLL YOUUUUUUUUU!" Vexus roared, as she emerged quickly from the explosion, now nothing but the creepy glowing red eyes attached to her metallic skeleton, and locked her hand in a death grip around Wayne's throat.  
"Grr…STAY DOWN, ALREADY!" Riku shouted, and then, in a flash, disarmed Vexus with his Spirit Katana. As she dropped Wayne due to the loss of her arms, Riku grabbed both Wayne and Jazz and darted away from Vexus. It only took a second for Vexus to realize just why Riku was running away, as she realized in horror what the one person she had been ignoring was doing…  
*Battle in Flash! kono mune ni  
Hibike! You are the hero of mime*  
"Now STAY DEAD THIS TIME!" Ash shouted, as his Spirit Energy had finished gathering into his Rift Sword once more. "SPIRIT SLASH!" he shouted, unleashing a final blade of energy into Vexus, who split in two seconds later.  
"NO! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Vexus let out a final scream as she exploded. Ash immaturely flipped off the explosion and shouted "And good riddance!"  
*Song ends*

* * *

"Ash!" Jazz happily called out, running over to him after the explosion had ended and the flames had died down.  
"Hey Jazz…I…probably owe you an explanation for Wayne, don't I?"  
"Damn right you do!" Jazz griped.  
"We ALL do." Wayne said, walking up. "I heard about what you did when I was knocked out the first time, Ketchum…and I…uh…" he turned, then turned his head toward Ash and smirked. "Thanks."  
"No problem. Glad you're okay."  
"I don't know about OKAY…but I'm still alive, so that's better than nothing, right?"  
"Uh…sure?" Ash looked confused.  
"Later, Ketchum." Wayne stuck up his right hand briefly, as if to wave goodbye. He then walked over to Riku.  
"You…saved my life."  
"You saved Jazz's." Riku said. "The Wayne I knew would've never done that, even for his own henchmen."  
"So…" Wayne trailed off, looking down at the ground. "…We cool?"  
"No." was Riku's simple answer, causing Wayne to sigh and start to turn around. Riku then smirked and added "…But it's a start." causing Wayne to turn back toward Riku.  
"Riku…" he said, genuinely smiling, which then turned into a smirk.  
"See ya next mission, then?" Riku asked.  
"Count on it."  
Meanwhile, back over on Ash's end, he saw Mac and Bloo walking up and smiled.  
"You came…"  
"Of course we did. We may not be the best fighters, or even that great…but like Timmy said, we're buds forever." Mac explained.  
"Buds forever…" Ash smirked.  
"And…we're not going anywhere!" Bloo shouted happily. "We CAN be useful!"  
"What about Jimmy and Timmy?"  
"They're still here too…they decided to stay long enough to SEE the Spirit Stone." Mac said. "So things are the same, huh?" Ash asked.  
"Unless you call your worst enemy becoming one of your most loyal allies 'the same', then no, not really." Bloo said.  
"Yeah, I guess that's true…"  
Meanwhile, toward the exit of the football field, Wayne was stopped by Yusuke.  
"So I guess you think you've earned everyone's trust, eh?" Yusuke said, anger present in his voice.  
"No, not really…I just wanna do the right thing." Wayne smiled and bowed his head slightly. "Now I have a reason to change, a reason to do good in this world."  
"And your sister?"  
"She's the reason to change. My girlfriend's the reason to do good." Wayne said. "See ya around, Urameshi…" he began to walk off.  
"Wayne." Yusuke called out.  
"Huh?" he turned, and caught something that Yusuke had tossed him. He looked at the object in wonder…  
"A wrist communicator…" Wayne stared down at it.  
"Welcome aboard, Spirit Detective Wayne Williams." Yusuke said, with a genuine smile on his face.  
"Yusuke…"

* * *

Later that night, Ash stood before the trash, getting ready to take it out to the nearest trash can. Before he could do anything though, Bloo pulled it out and tied it.  
"Huh?"  
"I believe it's my turn to do this…" Bloo said. Ash stood there for a few seconds, before laughing loudly.  
"What?!"  
"I guess Wayne's change of heart inspired you?"  
"Actually…YOU did." Bloo said, smiling. "You nearly killed yourself to save everybody in town."  
"All part of the job." Ash rubbed the back of his head with his hand.  
"Think you could teach me a few tricks?" Bloo asked in earnest.  
"Sure." Ash grinned widely, thinking one thing as Bloo turned around to do his trash duty.  
'Maybe I've been taking what I DO have here for granted…'


	40. The Masters Plan

PokeWing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 40: The Masters Plan!  
A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

DISCLAIMER'D. Seriously, read episodes 1, 25, or the first chapter of the movie for the disclaimer. Oh god, I missed you, disclaimer!

* * *

It was a quiet Friday night in the state of Wisconsin, most particularly, in the castle of one Vlad Masters, who sat upon one of his luxuriously comfortable seats as he wrote something down on a piece of paper. Meanwhile, in the soundproofed hidden basement lab, it was anything but quiet, as Janine Williams hacked apart training robots with a fencing sword that Vlad had given her to train with, having been sharpened to the point where the edges were no longer round and harmless. As she looked down at the robots, which had been constructed as replicas of Ash, she smirked. "It's payback time, Ash…for what you've put my brother through…and this time, you won't escape by the skin of your teeth." She then furiously stomped on the head of the Ash robot, grinning evilly as the oil flew from the destroyed head, splattering her pants. This time, Ash was going to have to face an old friend…

* * *

(Title)The Masters Plan!  
(Subtitle)This means WAR!  
(Jingle)Electric Guitar  
(Image) Ash, bruised and battered, is looking up in shock at a wickedly grinning Janine, who is pointing the Soul Sword at his chest. Meanwhile, above them, Vlad looms in the shadows, holding marionettes that are attached to the two of them.

* * *

The next afternoon at Condo Ketchum seemed peaceful, as Ash rolled out of bed, yawning. The young Kamoa stood up and slowly stumbled into the kitchen.  
"Well well, look who crawled out of bed!" Riku greeted, wearing the exact same "Burn the Cook, kiss me instead" apron that Skulker had worn a couple of months back.  
"Where did you get that?" was Ash's first question.  
"Eh, found it on the way to a double date with Wayne and Aimee." Riku shrugged.  
"Haha…I remember that thing."  
"So, what's next for the man who saved the universe?" Yusuke chimed in.  
"Breakfast. I'm fucking STARVING. What'cha got, Iron Chef Kurosawa?"  
"A traditional American breakfast of bacon and eggs." Riku explained, shoveling some eggs and bacon onto a plate and bringing it over to Ash.  
"I decided to test the man's culinary prowess." Yusuke said, tearing up. "Best bacon and eggs I've ever had." Suddenly, the three of them heard a yawn from under them. Beneath the table laid Jimmy, who held the Rift Locator in his right hand.  
"Uh…Jimmy? Did you SLEEP there last night?" Yusuke asked, eyes wide.  
"Maybe I'd have slept in my OWN BED if SOMEONE hadn't put the label to my pack of Neutronic Energy Drinks on the SIX PACK OF BEER THEY BOUGHT YESTERDAY!" Jimmy said. "Hmm, Yusuke, does that sound like someone you know?!"  
"Sure, blame the Asian dude." Yusuke's eyes narrowed in boredom.  
"Pretty sure Bloo did that." Ash corrected.  
"Well then I'm pretty sure his chocolate chews are about to be replaced with laxatives. Yusuke, wanna help me out with that?"  
"Uh, sure…but why'd you need energy drinks?" Yusuke looked puzzled.  
"Look, if I want to stay up late hours making silly devices with no beneficial use for mankind, THAT'S MY BUSINESS." Jimmy said, his eyes narrowing angrily. "Anyway…Ash, I believe THIS belongs to you." He handed Ash the Rift Locator. "Before getting plastered last night, I finished turning this baby into a Spirit Stone Locator."  
"Kickass!" Ash cheered, pocketing the device. "Thanks Jimmy, this'll really help us out!"  
"No problem, but remember…as soon as you find it, I want to see it." Jimmy said. "I'm curious as to how a simple STONE can bring about the fall of mankind."  
"Sure thing." Ash sighed as he began to chow down on his breakfast.  
"Aren't you going to…you know, try it out?"  
"After breakfast, yeah." Ash managed to somehow get out between monstrous bites of his bacon and eggs.  
"You eager to get this over with?" Yusuke asked, looking a bit shocked.  
"The faster I get this case closed, the faster I can talk to Misty about this whole situation with Jazz." Ash explained, finishing the last of his breakfast. "So…where's Jenny?"  
"She went to go get Wayne." Riku said. "I would've went, but Urameshi here told me to make breakfast."  
"And you didn't call him because…?" Ash's eyes narrowed in boredom.  
"His phone's out. He's having his apartment remodeled so it'll be more home-y."  
"Right, I remember him mentioning that yesterday…"  
"He's staying at a motel down the street in the meantime. He didn't tell me his number, either, so…"  
"Gotcha. Wish Jenny'd hurry up and get back here with him." Ash sighed once more, leaning back into his chair.

* * *

"Quite a lovely day out today." Wayne casually remarked to Aimee, as the two sat on the same bench at the park where they had first met.  
"Yeah, yeah, it IS nice…but there's something missing." Aimee pondered. "Amity Park just doesn't feel the same without ghosts attacking it. Aside from the damn Box Ghost, it's been like…well…"  
"Like a ghost town?" Wayne said, in a deadpan tone.  
"Yeah. Like that."  
"The irony slays me." Wayne stated, uttering a monosyllabic chuckle.  
"So, what do ya want to do next?"  
"Well…we should get back to finding the Fire Stone."  
"I thought you said it was the Spirit Stone?" Aimee looked a bit confused.  
"It is. There's four of them. The one we're trying to find is the Fire Stone."  
"I MIGHT be pushing the whole 'prying into my boyfriend's private life' thing a bit too hard here, but what the hell were you going to do with a stone called the Fire Stone?! I mean…aside from the obvious. How would you have recreated the world?"  
"Y'know, several people have asked me that question. I never could think of HOW I was going to recreate Earth once I was done purging it, just…y'know…the purging, suffering of the innocent, all of that shit. In order words, basically what your dad was gonna do to me."  
"Dad's a bit…overprotective." Aimee said.  
"He pulled a shotgun on me AT DINNER."  
"That's Dad for you." Aimee just shrugged. "He's protective of his youngest."  
"I wonder…would my dad have been the same way with Janine if he lived long enough to see her get to eighteen?"  
"Speaking of…when AM I going to meet this sister of yours?" Aimee put her hands on her hips and gave Wayne a faux-death glare.  
"Depends on when I can get ahold of her. She no longer has her wrist communicator, and calling Masters is too risky since I can't let him know yet that I'm no longer trying to destroy all human life." Wayne's eyebrows slanted, indicating that he was deep in thought as he spoke.  
"Masters…you mean…?" Aimee's eyes widened.  
"Vlad Masters, billionaire, yes. He's also half ghost." Wayne said. "He's a very dangerous guy. And I fear he might have the Fire Stone."  
"Why would he…?!"  
"He used to work under me. I gave him information on the stone to exchange for Ketchum's personal file. Of course, the fact that he's the last Kamoa was kept out of the file. Enma knew…" Wayne looked deep in thought. "What ELSE was he hiding?"  
"Don't try to think about it too much. Just enjoy the day." Aimee put a reassuring hand on Wayne's shoulder.  
"The thought that I gave the Fire Stone to Fenton's greatest enemy...what if he uses it to get what he wants? That would include murdering another human being…" Wayne's eyes widened.  
"Yeah…my dad." came Danny's voice as he walked up beside Wayne. "What are you guys doing here?"  
"We're just enjoying the view." Aimee responded.  
"What about you, Fenton?" Wayne asked.  
"I DO hang out with other people besides you and the gang, y'know." Danny's eyes narrowed in boredom, pointing over to Sam and Tucker, who waved awkwardly.  
"So you do…I barely see them anymore. What's up with that?"  
"That whole 'You used to be a supervillain' thing MIGHT have something to do with why they've not been around you. Just sayin'."  
"Right, right…"  
"Heyyy~!" Jenny called from afar as she jogged over toward the three friends.  
"Jenny, what are you doing here?!" Danny asked.  
"We're to report back to the apartment! Jimmy left a note last night saying the Spirit Stone Locator would be done this morning…unless he got plastered again."  
"You'd think Ketchum would punish that little shit Bloo harder than what he does or something." Wayne commented dryly.  
"Anyway, we're needed!" Jenny motioned for Wayne and Danny to follow her back, and the two of them got up.  
"Can we come too?" Aimee called to Wayne, pointing to herself with her right hand and using her left to point to Sam and Tucker.  
"Just to the apartment!" Wayne remarked, as the six of them raced off.

* * *

"So, my dear…I see you defeated each of these robots without breaking a sweat." Vlad smirked, observing his so-called pupil. Janine just returned his gaze with one of her own, filled with confidence.  
"Yep…" Janine lifted her right hand and twirled it about before her eyes, admiring her fingernails.  
"Then the only thing left for us to do is pay young Ash a little visit in Amity Park…while you fight him, I'll be busy making my own desires come true!" Vlad remarked with an evil grin.  
"I don't give a damn what you do, Vlad. Just don't come in between me and Ash."  
"Of course, child…" Vlad turned around, glancing down into his shirt pocket which held the very stone Ash and Wayne had been seeking all along: the Spirit Stone of Fire. He looked out of a window, grinning evilly.  
"But of course…" he repeated, walking over to the door, opening it, and motioning for Janine to go through first.

* * *

"Okay…where the hell are they?!" Ash shouted, crossing his arms and giving off his variation of the dreaded Mental Taser. "I know it doesn't take Jenny an hour to fly across town!"  
"Fly nothing…she walked, Ash." Yusuke said in a deadpan tone.  
"Why the hell did she do THAT?!"  
"Uh…so as not to be seen/have a million questions asked about her/insert random extremely legitimate reason here?" Riku asked, his eyes narrowing in boredom.  
"Wait…" Jimmy held up his right hand as he gazed off into the horizon, watching six people running up toward the apartment. "Here they come! And they've brought company."  
"Sorry we're late." Danny gasped for breath as he stared down the four who stood before them.  
"Damn right you're sorry! Where the hell were you?!" Ash chastised his former enemy.  
"Well excuse me for not knowing Jimmy was gonna be finished with this thing today!" Wayne shouted. "Maybe SOME of us like go on dates!"  
"Now now, settle down, children." Riku said flatly, making 'tone it down' motions to both Ash and Wayne. "Who's ready to fire up this baby?"  
"I am!" Jimmy responded. "Especially since I MADE it!"  
"Nobody likes a bragging jackass." Wayne commented, his eyes narrowed in boredom.  
"Behold!" Jimmy said, completely ignoring Wayne. "The Neutronic Spirit Stone Locator! Now let's fire this up, and…" he trailed off, turning on the device. Almost immediately, it got a reading."It worked! Uh…"  
"'Uh', what?!" Sam said, waving her hand as if saying 'Proceed'.  
"The Spirit Stone is…heading this way!" Jimmy said, eyes wide.  
"What?!" Everyone present chimed in at once.  
"Well…looks like your case is about over, huh?" Tucker commented.  
"Yeah…" Wayne trailed off, lost in thought again. "Ketchum, can I have a word with you?" He glanced back at Aimee. "…Alone?"  
"Wayne, what's—" Aimee started, but was cut off by Wayne speaking up again.  
"If I'm right about what I'm going to ask him about, I'll tell you later." Wayne said, with a small smile.  
"If you say so." Aimee said, her facial expression reflecting confusion. Ash and Wayne walked across the street, stopping at the alley between FentonWorks and the next building over.  
"What do you want, Wayne?" Ash looked annoyed.  
"When you got back from the future, you were all smiles. Now you've been kinda…I can't put my finger on it. You talk to all of us, but you're not yourself. What the hell happened?"  
"Are you asking me because you're concerned about my well-being?"  
"More like I'm concerned that you're sitting on information that's shocking, horrifying, or a combination of the two."  
"Ha…" Ash chuckled monosyllabically. "I guess you could say that."  
"Well then, what is it?"  
"…When I went to the future to save it with you and the others, I fought the thing that was tearing the future apart. It had distorted the lot of you. Only Jazz and I were left when this thing got put in its place…"  
"What, you're miserable that you WON?!"  
"No…that thing is back HERE now. Granted, it doesn't have the ability to wreck time anymore, but it is highly dangerous…"  
"You sound like you've fought it before that."  
"Of course I have. I fought it every time I fought YOU." Wayne's eyes widened enormously, and he shook his head slightly, in complete denial.  
"No…!"  
"Yes…the thing that was trying to take over the future is the very demon that you thought you'd killed. That speck on your boot…it was leftover demon goo. That thing bonded with Danny's future self's body and began wreaking havoc."  
"What speck…?"  
"The speck you had on there when we were visited by Clockwork. You don't remember."  
"No…I don't." Wayne said, looking down. There was an uncomfortable silence.  
"We should probably get back to the others." Ash stated, "So we can get this over with." There was another uncomfortable silence, as Wayne seemingly ignored what Ash was saying. Taking the former's lack of differentiating opinion as a response, Ash turned and started back across the street, and after a moment, Wayne followed silently.

* * *

The shiny black Mercedes sports car seemingly flew past the other travelers on the road as Vlad Masters made his way down the highway, back in the direction of Amity Park, with Janine sitting in the passenger seat. A small grin crossed Vlad's lips every time he revved the engine on this baby. However, right now the man had more important matters to attend to.  
"Okay, so let's go over this one final time." Vlad spoke as the two passed a road sign which read; "Amity Park: 20 Miles". "Ketchum's friends will be eager to defend him in a fight, and although I hate to admit it, the boy does have many allies."  
"We need to figure out how to get Ash alone if we are to defeat him." Janine buzzed in, almost emotionlessly at this point.  
"I was getting to that!" Vlad rebutted in a bit of a comical outburst. "Damn kids these days…" He mumbled something inaudible to himself before clearing his throat and continuing on his tirade. "As I was saying…you need to do some forgery. Leave Ketchum something like a note or a message that will lure him away from his friends. I figured I'd leave the details up to you, after all." Vlad coughed for a moment, jerking the wheel to the side to correct himself as he drifted. "I'm sure you can think of a way to get under his skin, into his head if you will. I may not fully trust Wayne, but I can see that you will be of some use to me."  
"Hmmm…." Janine thought aloud before a quick smirk appeared on her face. "I know EXACTLY how to trick that boy." Her voice sounded very cold as an almost evil look now appeared on the face of Janine Williams.

* * *

Ash walked through the front door of Condo Ketchum, with Wayne treading in slowly behind. Timmy, Cosmo and Wanda were sitting on the couch, the latter two obviously sitting in their fish bowl.  
"Hey guys!" Timmy said cheerfully. Everyone else that was downstairs, even ones coming from different rooms, started migrating to the front of the house when Ash and Wayne entered.  
"Okay guys," Ash said loudly as soon as everyone in the condo was present. "We've got something pretty important going on right now. Is everyone present?" Wayne still wasn't even talking hardly. It was, in fact, almost as though Wayne was hiding behind Ash. In response to Ash's question, Jenny spoke up.  
"We're all here Ash. What's this about?" The robot girl asked, pretty much voicing the question that was lingering on everybody else's minds. After a moment of letting the dribble die down, Ash firmly shut the door to Condo Ketchum behind him, cleared his throat and began to speak up once again.  
"Okay, this is in regards to our new friend here who already seems to be coming in quite handy." Ash reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the new Spirit Stone Locator. A few faces in the crowd, Riku the most because he seemed to have a good hunch as to where this was going. "The locator has told us that the Spirit Stone is coming this way, in the direction of Amity Park." Almost immediately when Ash stopped talking, Riku spoke up, sounding more affirmative than questioning.  
"It's starting to look like my theory about Vlad having the stone is looking more and more likely." Riku stated.  
"So it looks like a final confrontation is inevitable…" Wayne mused, looking down once again at the ground.  
"Wayne…" Aimee walked over to her boyfriend, once again putting her hand on his shoulder. There were a few minutes of awkward silence between the entire group before Ash spoke up again, surprising everyone with his choice of words.  
"…I pity Masters."  
"What?!" Danny spoke up, looking angry. "Dude, he's a crazed up fruit loop who's lusting after my MOM! He doesn't care whose toes he steps on to get his way!"  
"What he's doing is heinous, but it's all he has keeping him going." Ash sighed. "What's left after that comes crumbling down?"  
"…" Danny remained silent. After a few more minutes of silence, Ash spoke up again.  
"Don't get me wrong, Danny…he shouldn't have his way. It'll tear all of you apart."  
"Like that movie with the guy whose international origins remain a mystery!" Cosmo chimed in.  
"No. NOTHING like that." Ash said, his eyes narrowing in frustration.  
"Should we be scared that Cosmo said a big word like international?" Tucker asked meekly.  
"Inter-what?" Cosmo replied again, sporting a look that denied all traces of intelligence within him.  
"Never mind."  
"Okay!" Cosmo happily ignored Tucker's previous comment and poofed a can of spreadable cheese into his hand, then proceeded to spray the cheese directly into his mouth.  
"Anyway…" Sam cleared her throat. "Let's assume Vlad has this stone…how the hell are you going to get it back from him? Wouldn't the stone make him godly?"  
"Let's assume he does. The simple answer is that all of us who are good frontline fighters will take him on all at once. Those who AREN'T will attempt to swipe the stone from him."  
"And the long answer?" Same looked bored.  
"The long answer is…wait, never mind. That WAS the long answer."  
"Of course it was." Jenny sighed. "Hey, you think you might have a strategy for when he tries to SET US ON FIRE WITH THE STONE CONTAINING THE POWER OF FIRE?!"  
"Hope he doesn't hit us."  
"…Does anybody have another plan? Anybody?!" Bloo asked, panic evident in his voice.

"Uh…I could try to overshadow him and MAKE him give us the stone." Danny suggested. The gang stood in silence for a few minutes, before the phone began to ring. Ash walked off to his bedroom, where the phone still laid from his conversation the night before with Jazz, and the gang could barely hear him talking.  
"Yeah? Okay…what do you need to talk about?"  
"Who's he talking to?" Jenny pondered.  
"Colonel Hartman's Fried Chicken Emporium? Yeah, I can make it there in a few minutes. Are you already there? Okay, I'm heading that way." The gang could then hear him hanging up the phone, as he walked back out of his room, glancing around at his friends with an annoyed look. "It's Jazz, okay? She wants to talk to me by Colonel Hartman's Fried Chicken Emporium."  
"Cool, I'm getting hungry anyway…" Bloo commented.  
"You can't go. She wants me to go alone."  
"That doesn't sound like my sister." Danny looked out the window, across at FentonWorks.  
"I know. That's what worries me."  
"Then why don't we all go?" Yusuke suggested.  
"No. Trust me…I have a feeling of what's going on here. I'll take care of it. Permanently, if need be."  
"O…kay…?" was Yusuke's response, as Ash walked over to the door quickly, descending the stairs and leaving the entire gang wondering what was going on. After a few minutes of shared silence, Wayne spoke up.  
"Who wants some drinks?"

* * *

"Now all the preparations are complete…" Janine smirked, walking to the other side of Jazz's room, as the redhead who had just spoken to Ash over the phone sat, tied to her own chair with what looked like about a yard of thick rope.  
"Why are you doing this?!" Jazz shouted, squirming wildly against her bonds.  
"…I have to protect someone."  
"But why KILL Ash?! Weren't you friends?!"  
"At one point, we were more than that…but that's ancient history. If I don't kill Ash, he'll kill the person I'm trying to protect!"  
"You mean Wayne? He's on Ash's side now!"  
"Liar! Ash tried to kill him about three weeks ago!"  
"Things have changed greatly since then!" Jazz pleaded.  
"He would have told me! I've had enough of your lies!" Janine growled, swiftly walking back over to Jazz and tying a white cloth over her mouth and nose. "When your precious Ash lies dead at my feet, I'll leave the lot of you alone. Until then…" she hung her head, and walked out of the room quickly, leaving Jazz to struggle futilely and cry out into her gag in the hopes that someone would either help her or somehow decipher that Ash was in mortal danger…

* * *

Meanwhile, downstairs in the Fenton household, Maddie peered out of the window by the front door to see an empty black Mercedes parked on the street.  
"Weird…" she said. "What's an expensive car doing parked there like tha—" she was unable to finish her sentence, as Plasmius materialized behind her, and she found herself surrounded by a pink glow. She let out a short gasp before falling into unconsciousness as the pink glow faded, leaving Plasmius standing there with a satisfied look on his face.

The sun was beginning to set as Ash walked onto the empty lot. "Good thing this place had an e-coli scare recently…" Ash spoke to himself, looking determined as he stood by the entrance, then lowered his head, speaking up after a minute. "I KNOW you're here, Janine. If you've hurt one hair on Jazz's head, then screw our history, you're DEAD."  
"Relax, I left her tied up at her home. Her parents are bound to find her eventually." was Janine's response as she walked up behind Ash. "Well…her dad, anyway." After a few seconds of silence, the Kamoa teen spoke up.  
"You're actually helping Masters. I couldn't believe it when I'd thought about it at first, until I realized that he'd had a sister as well. You wanted to help him because you felt sorry for him. His sister's shunned him because of something completely idiotic YOUR brother had done. How often do you feel the need to keep apologizing for his mistakes?"  
"That's not what I'm doing at—" Janine said, her eyes wide with shock. She would have finished her sentence, had Ash not turned around and threw his arms up in complete fury.  
"Oh COME ON! That's what you've been doing since the very beginning of this whole mess! You didn't want me or my friends to think ill of him. Well…I know he WAS possessed. But that doesn't excuse what he's done!"  
"Are you still planning to kill him after this case is closed?" Janine asked, her eyes narrowing dangerously as they changed from green to amber.  
"That's not for ME to decide, Janine. Enma will decide his punishment." Ash explained. "You know that."  
"Then by killing you…I can help him escape. He won't have to face trial!" Janine said, holding out something surprising.  
"That's…!" Ash looked shocked.  
"Your Soul Sword. Your old one, anyway. I see that you have a new one." Janine noted the sheath hanging around Ash. "Where'd you get it?"  
"Little gift from myself…" Ash trailed off, as Janine pointed Ash's own weapon toward him.  
"Draw it. Draw your sword, Ash Ketchum." Janine almost whispered, in a dangerous tone.  
"I don't want to fight you. We can talk this out." Ash tried to reason, but Janine would have none of it. She charged him instantly, giving him absolutely no time to react, as she kicked him through the glass double doors, the kick-ee shattering them as he flew through them and landed, unmoving, in a heap…

* * *

As the gang sat there, drinking from the soda that Wayne had poured them, they each broke off into smaller groups to chat amongst themselves. Riku had walked over to Osaka, who had, in the past few minutes, joined the lot of them in the living room.  
"Hey there." Osaka greeted her boyfriend, noting the smile on his face. "What's up?" Riku stared into her eyes, knowing what he wanted…no, NEEDED to do.  
"There's something I've been wanting to ask you, Ayumu Kasuga. I've been afraid to, but after certain…things that happened not included in my memory, I've outgrown that fear. So, I must ask…" before he could pull out the ring he had bought in town a month and a half ago, Osaka spoke up.  
"Couldja hold that thought? The floor wants to talk to me…" she trailed off, falling forward and hitting the floor. Riku, panicked, shook her in his arms frantically.  
"Ayumu! Ayumu!"  
"Don't bother…she's knocked out cold. Just like most of you will be in the next ten seconds." Wayne spoke up.  
"W…Why…?" Aimee asked, beating the rest of them to the punch. As most of them fell over and into unconsciousness . Yusuke was the last to go, and before he got in one sentence…  
"I trusted you, you son of a bitch…" And with that, Yusuke was out as well, leaving only Riku, Danny, Jenny, and Wayne awake. Wayne turned toward the door silently, before Jenny's outstretched Stretchy Arm and Extendo-Fingers had grabbed him, trying to keep him from leaving. He simply closed his eyes and said two words out loud.  
"Play dead." Jenny gasped, before exploding into various parts. As her arm exploded as well, Wayne just turned the handle on the door, opening it and walking downstairs. As he walked downstairs, he was tackled angrily the rest of the way down by an angry Riku. This was followed by Danny phasing through the wall and piling into Wayne. As the three came to a stop against the door leading out onto the sidewalk, Riku shouted angrily before punching Wayne.  
"WHY THE HELL DID YOU DRUG EVERYONE?!" This was followed by a punch from Danny.  
"WHAT HE SAID!"  
"…I'm going to put an end to this, once and for all. That's why I drugged everyone but you guys." Wayne looked away from the two.  
"Why not us?" Riku asked.  
"I need Danny to come with me…to his house. I'm willing to bet Vlad's there with the Spirit Stone to take his mom back with him to Wisconsin."  
"No…!" Danny shouted.  
"And YOU…" Wayne looked back at Riku. "I need you to go find Ash. Did either of you find it strange that he's going to a place that was recently SHUT DOWN due to an e-coli scare?"  
"Now that you mention it…" Danny trailed off. "But if he's not meeting Jazz there, then why…?"  
"He was honest about the location. What he WASN'T honest about is whose sister he was meeting there."  
"Son of a bitch…" Riku trailed off. "Janine!"  
"Exactly."  
"But how'd she sound like Jazz if she's only met her once?"  
"Because it really WAS your sister talking to Ash. Check your house when we get inside. She's probably still there. Janine wouldn't stoop EXACTLY to my level, so I doubt she'd have carried Jazz off with her. Riku…I need you to stop the fight between Ash and Janine. Nothing good will come of it."  
"How do you propose I do that, Wayne? Your sister's not my biggest fan after I talked to her at Genkai's compound back in Mushiyori City."  
"Give her this…" Wayne said, as the three finally got to their feet. He pulled out Gurthang and handed it to Riku, who noted that there was a paper wrapped around it. "Make sure she reads what's attached to this."  
"But Wayne..you should—"  
"I can't see her, Riku…she reminds me of the things I've done…and I'm trying to move on from that."  
"How does she remind you of your past misdeeds?!" Danny shouted. "She's your SISTER!"  
"I shunned her for about five-eighths of my life. I don't think seeing me would be good for her right now." Riku nodded silently.  
"Right…I'll make sure she gets it." Riku said. "You guys had better get going."  
"Okay then…" Danny opened the door and looked across the street, seeing the same Black Mercedes his mother had seen a few minutes ago. His eyes narrowed in anger.  
"You guys were right…Vlad's here. So he really DOES have the Spirit Stone."  
"I feared as much…" Riku said. "Wayne, Danny…good luck."  
"You too." Wayne responded. "If everything goes according to plan, Janine will be away from Vlad AND we'll have recovered the Spirit Stone."  
"So let's end this already!" Danny said, running toward his house as he transformed into his ghostly alter-ego. Wayne followed behind him quickly, as Riku ran toward the chicken shack as fast as his legs would carry him.

* * *

"Don't tell me that's all I had to do the entire time." Janine said, crawling through the now-broken double doors to the restaurant. "I trained for all this time, and what do you give me in return?! An unimpressive puss-out! GET UP!" she kicked at Ash's stomach, only to have her foot grabbed by the seemingly-unconscious Kamoa, who then floored her mightily by tugging on her foot with extreme force. As she hit the ground, Ash did a majestic backflip, landing on his feet approximately six feet out of Janine's immediate grasp.  
"You've changed." Ash said, reaching for his Soul Sword. "It'd be more advantageous of me to use my Rift Sword, but you seem adamant on having me use THIS weapon instead. Very well, Janine…since you're no longer the girl I remember, I'll give you what you want. Like you said to me just now…GET UP."  
"Heh heh…I underestimated you." Janine chuckled slightly, climbing to her feet quickly, then picking up the present Soul Sword and swinging it at Ash, who parried the blow easily with the sword he'd received from his older self. He kicked her away quickly, and then brought down his Soul Sword, which Janine parried quickly. The two of them began to exchange sword blows, the other parrying as if their lives depended on it, for this time, they did…

* * *

As Wayne kicked down the front door to FentonWorks, Danny slapped his head.  
"I have a KEY, you know…"  
"No time to worry about that, Fenton! Go find your sister! I'll take care of Vlad." Wayne snarled as he ran off.  
"You don't even know where he is!" Danny called out after Wayne, then shrugged and flew upstairs. He started to take off for the upstairs closet, but was interrupted by the sound of Jazz's muffled scream, coming from the direction of her room. Danny went intangible, peeking through the door and seeing his sister, bound to her chair.  
"Jazz!" he called out, floating over to her and removing her gag.  
"Danny! Ash is in huge trouble!" were the first words out of her mouth.  
"We know, Wayne's sister is trying to kill him. Hold still for a sec." Danny instructed. Jazz did as she was told, and a second later, Danny had burned through her ropes with a small, focused beam of ectoplasmic energy. She scrambled out of the chair.  
"Where are you going?!" Danny called after her as she ran over to the door.  
"To stop Ash and Janine from killing each other!" Jazz turned to face Danny. "What about you?!"  
"I'm gonna help Wayne put a stop to Vlad!"  
"Vlad's here?!"  
"Yes, and more to the matter at hand…he's got the Spirit Stone."  
"WHAT?!"

* * *

Maddie had awakened seconds earlier, struggling hard against the ectoplasmic bonds that had formed around her hands and feet, as she sat on the floor of her own basement laboratory.  
"What's the meaning of this?!" she shouted.  
"Ah, my dear Maddie…I see you're awake." Plasmius turned around, with a sly grin. "I had hoped you'd stay out until we were back at my castle."  
"The Wisconsin Ghost!" she exclaimed. "But that castle belongs to Vlad!"  
"Oh…really?" Plasmius's grin turned wicked. "Well, there's one thing you haven't considered, now isn't there? When I said MY castle…" he trailed off, as two rings formed at his midsection, dividing. Maddie's jaw opened as wide as humanly possible, and her eyes followed suit, as the rings faded, revealing the form of her old college friend, Vlad Masters.  
"I MEANT it."  
"VLAD?!" Maddie shouted in disbelief. "YOU'RE a ghost?!"  
"HALF ghost. It happened in the prototype accident twenty years ago. I've been given a tremendous gift, and now I'll use it AND the stone I have in my pocket to make all of my ambitions come to fruition!" he paced back and forth in front of Maddie excitedly. "Think Maddie, together we can rule the earth! All you have to do is divorce Jack and marry me, and I can make BOTH of our dreams come true!"  
"My dreams DID come true, Vlad. I married Jack, I have two wonderful children, and I'm happy."  
"But with me you could still have your children, and more! Hell, I'll even keep Jack around as a poolboy if you want!"  
"You don't get it, do you? I love Jack…not you." Maddie emphasized the last two words in an attempt to paint a clear picture for Vlad, so to speak.  
"Very well…if you won't love me…then I'll MAKE you love me!" he shouted angrily, as he brandished the Spirit Stone. "Heed my command, Spirit Stone of Fire! Make Madeline Fenton love ONLY ME!" he stood for a few seconds triumphantly, until Maddie shattered his delusions of grandeur by spitting at his expensive shoes.  
"What?! How can this be?!" Vlad looked positively stunned.  
"Because the Spirit Stone of Fire is merely an instrument of destruction." came a voice that caused Vlad to look up in surprise. The voice belonged to none other than Wayne, who glared furiously at Vlad from the bottom step. "It has NO power aside from burning anything its energy touches to a cinder."  
"Wayne…?" Maddie was shocked to see her daughter's tutee staring down someone as dangerous as Vlad. "What's going on here?  
"You lying SHIT! I trusted you!" Wayne bellowed angrily.  
"As much as you trusted everyone else in your little organization that ended up either defeated, turned to the side of 'justice' or flat out DEAD?!" Vlad returned Wayne's angry glare with one of his own. "And speaking of LIARS…YOU said this stone would grant you whatever you wanted!"  
"I did say that, didn't I? But what I wanted was to kill every last human on the planet! There's more than enough power in that stone to help me do JUST that…if that was still what I wanted to do…"  
"…" Vlad's eyebrow arched for a few seconds before he burst into riotous laughter. "You're one of THEM now?! Oh, that is TOO RICH! You wiped out an entire dimension! What makes you think you can even BEGIN to atone for the sins you've committed?!"  
"I'm not asking for atonement anymore. I'm doing what I want to do, and right now that's BEATING THE HELL OUT OF YOU UNTIL YOU FORK OVER THE SPIRIT STONE!" Wayne then ran over to Vlad, who only had enough time to throw his left arm up to shield himself as Wayne gave him a right hook, which sent him sailing all the way to the opposite wall of the lab.

* * *

Ash and Janine continued to trade blows, this time heading back for the employee-only area, inching their way back toward the door quickly as both refused to give up their furious struggle for dominance over the other.  
"Getting tired yet?!" Janine snarled at Ash, who returned her sinister look with one of his own.  
"Nope! You?!"  
"Absolutely not!"  
"Good! Then let's take it up a notch!" Ash then increased the speed of his swing, forcing Janine to do the same in order to keep up.

* * *

"Vlad…I almost looked up to you. You had money, you had power…you had everything I had, but you actually had something I didn't. You had a goal…you knew what you wanted." Wayne said, walking over to the seemingly-dazed Vlad slowly, his eyes changing quickly from green to amber, and then from amber to red. "When it got right down to it, I realized there were humans who deserved to live out their lives in peace. Do humans suck? Sometimes, yes…but they ARE worth fighting for. I've become as determined to meet this goal as you are to get Maddie over there to marry you. You can't possibly defeat me." Wayne then gasped as the dazed Vlad suddenly grinned evilly and dissolved, dropping the Spirit Stone. Before Wayne could grab it though, he let out a shout as he felt Vlad float into him, overshadowing him. "NO!"  
"Oh yes…" Vlad spoke up, now in Wayne's body as he grinned evilly once more and then walked over to the Spirit Stone. "This is the closest you'll ever get to holding this thing, Wayne. Now…what was I going to do again? Oh yes…" he trailed off, suddenly forcing Wayne to headbutt the wall repeatedly. He laughed as Wayne's forehead started to bleed from repeated head bashings.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ash and Janine had finally inched their way back into the employee-only area, which led down some stairs into a large underground room full of giant vats of boiling grease. Janine finally found the moment of weakness she had been looking for, and kicked Ash, causing him to roll down the tall staircase. As Ash landed, Janine wasted no time, clearing the whole staircase in a single jump. As she landed on top of Ash, she kicked away his Soul Sword, and then surprised him by throwing hers off to the side. She then allowed herself to drop on Ash's stomach, knocking the wind out of him, Before Ash could catch his breath, though, Janine's right hand tightened around his throat like a vice grip. She grinned wickedly down at him as her grip continued to tighten. Ash coughed and choked for a few seconds, before remembering that his hands were still very free. He fiercely punched Janine in her stomach, knocking the wind out of her and causing her to let go. He then shoved her off of him as he climbed to his feet gasping for air. Janine quickly caught her breath as well, and what had started out as a somewhat dignified swordfight had devolved into an all-out brawl between the two, as they exchanged punches left and right with each other. Ash managed to stun Janine with one punch long enough to bend down and pick up his sword, but Janine surprised him by already having hers back as well, and he barely managed to parry the coming swipe from the brunette girl. The two of them began inching back again, this time toward what looked like a control panel.

* * *

"It's sad, Wayne!" Vlad laughed as he continued to bash Wayne's head against the wall. "For MONTHS you thought YOU were calling the shots! I've had this stone since before you even made it back to Amity Park!"  
"Then why…did…you…wait?" Wayne grunted out, briefly regaining control of his body.  
"I wasn't going to, but then I saw your sister, willing to defend you at any cost! I thought that she would be an excellent pawn in my little chess game against you and Ash!"  
"You son…of a…bitch…"  
"And there's nothing you can do to stop me! You were actually stupid enough to come fight me on your own!"  
"He's NOT on his own!" came Danny's voice, as he charged intangibly through the ceiling and shoved Plasmius out of Wayne angrily. "He's got his pal Danny Phantom here to save the day!"  
"The ghost boy!" Maddie exclaimed in shock.  
"Never fear citizen, just doing my duty!" he said in a faux-manlier voice.  
"Daniel, do you really think YOU'RE good enough to take me on?!" Plasmius laughed.  
"Only one way to find out! Wayne, get back." Danny said, his eyes narrowing in anger. "Let's see if you've gotten ANY better at resisting this, Plasmius!" He then let out a mighty Ghostly Wail, which actually started to cause the laboratory wall to collapse inward, creating a small crater which now housed Vlad and the Spirit Stone. He kept it up for about a minute, before he felt his powers slipping…he reverted back into his human form. "Yeah, how do you like that, Vl—"  
"…DANNY?!" Maddie said, her eyes and jaw once again widening as far as humanly possible.  
"…FUCK." Danny said, turning around to face his mother.  
"The ghost kid…that was YOU the whole time?! YOU'RE Danny Phantom?!"  
"Uh…talk later?!" Wayne interrupted, as fire erupted from the crater, with Danny and Wayne barely dodging it in time. As the fire dissipated, an absolutely furious Plasmius floated there, clutching the Spirit Stone in a deathgrip.  
"I have asked you time and again to join me, Daniel…and each time you spat in my face. All I wanted was the perfect family, and you had remained the one thorn in my side for the longest time, until Ash and his flunkies came along. I don't care how powerful you think you've become, I'm still your better in EVERY way! And I've had MORE THAN ENOUGH of you interfering with what I want!" Plasmius shouted angrily, floating over to Danny and smacking him against the nearest wall.  
"Danny!" Maddie shouted, concern for her little boy trumping her shock at finding out that he was the same ghost kid that she and her husband had relentlessly pursued. "Vlad, don't you DARE hurt him, or…!"  
"Or what?! You're in no position to make demands, Maddie!" Plasmius gloated. "We can always have another son!" he exclaimed, pointing the Spirit Stone at Danny. Before he could fire, however, Wayne leapt furiously onto Plasmius's back and wrestled him to the ground, finally grabbing the Spirit Stone away from him.  
"GAME OVER, VLAD." Wayne smirked confidently.  
"Oh no, you've taken the Spirit Stone, whatever shall I do?" Plasmius said in a deadpan tone, smirking as he started to go intangible, but was cut off rather painfully by Danny tossing the Specter Deflector at him, the belt quickly wrapping around his waist with an extremely audible click. He shrieked in both horror and agony as the belt forced him to revert to his human form.  
"Whoa…great aim, Fenton." Wayne said. His eyes suddenly widened though, as he felt a stabbing pain in his back. He gurgled out something in response, dropping to his knees and collapsing to the floor entirely, a knife in his back. Vlad, scowling, bent down and picked up the Spirit Stone.  
"Now, where were we…?!" Vlad's eyes narrowed dangerously.

* * *

As Ash and Janine's fearsome duel continued, the two were going so fast between offense and defense that it had become impossible for any outsider, let alone Riku, who had just entered the restaurant and heard the two of them fighting from upstairs, to tell who was on the offensive and who was on the defensive. The two of them, Riku noted to himself as they came into view, appeared to be complete equals. Finally, their two swords met at an equal distance between the two warriors, with the two of them pressing as hard as they could, before freeing up their right hands and pointing at each other. With a simultaneous shout of "SPIRIT GUN!" the two were sent flying away from each other, with Janine flying into the control panel they had been moving toward. All of a sudden, an alarm went off, and a mechanized voice said "DRAINING GREASE."  
"Oh SHIT!" Janine shouted, realizing in horror that the grates under the grease vats were closed and jumping on top of the control panel, while Ash climbed onto a nearby stack of boxes. No sooner had they done this than the entire floor had flooded with boiling grease, which was quickly ascending. Ash realized that it would reach Janine from her spot, so he desperately reached out his hand.  
"Janine! Grab ahold!" he shouted at his former partner. Janine looked down in realization of the rising grease, looked back at Ash, and then proceeded to surprise him by laughing.  
"Janine! I'm not kidding! Grab my hand! I promise I won't go back to kicking your ass until we get to a safer location!"  
"I thought I could take on the last Kamoa…I was mistaken." she let out a monosyllabic chuckle as she stared down at various things burning up in the grease, noting that the grease itself had started to catch fire. As the fire quickly spread, she glanced up at the ceiling, letting a solitary tear fall down her cheek as she started to laugh.  
"JANINE!" Ash shouted, holding out his hand as far as he could. "We've GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!" he saw his boxes catch fire, and he quickly looked up at the pipes running along the ceiling. He jumped and grabbed onto those. "JANINE! GIVE ME YOUR HAND!" he pleaded.  
"What's the point?" she laughed again. "I was useless to him after all…"  
"That's NOT true!" came Jazz's voice, breaking through the roaring flames. "He's your brother! He loves you, no matter what you think you've done to him!"  
"You…" Janine's eyes widened. "Why do you care?!"  
"Because I love Ash, and I know that in a way, he loves you too!"  
"She's right. We may not be a couple anymore, but I still care about you. That's why I hadn't wanted to fight you." Ash sighed. "Now give me your hand so we can get the hell out of here!"  
Janine looked down at the flames, inviting her to death's sweet release, and she looked up at Ash, her guaranteed salvation, because she knew no matter what she had done in the past or what she might do in the future…  
"You'll always be there for me." she smiled, finishing her own thoughts out loud. She then reached up her hand and grabbed onto Ash.  
"Riku! Help me out a bit over here!" Ash called to the man, who had been silently observing. Riku nodded, clambering onto the nearest pipe himself, crawling over to Ash and helping him drag Janine back to the safety of the stairs. As the three got on their feet again, Ash grabbed Jazz by the hand, as they ran quickly out of the restaurant and cleared it by about fifty feet.  
"Hey…weren't there highly combustible chemicals down there?" Ash asked casually, and as if on cue, the building exploded.  
"That was something straight out of an action movie…" Janine said in awe.  
"Well…guess we know why the place got shut down, eh? Ash poked his elbow at Jazz, who just responded by 'jolting' him with her dreaded Mental Taser.  
"Aw shit…"  
"Why are you here, Riku?" Was the next thing that passed from Janine's lips.  
"Wayne gave me this, to give to you…" Riku explained, handing Gurthang over to her, with the paper still wrapped around it. Janine eyes the paper suspiciously, before unwrapping it from the sword and starting to read it aloud.  
"My dearest older sister, if you're reading this, then this mission is coming to a swift and brutal close. I plan to confront Masters in the near future, because I believe he has the Spirit Stone we've been looking for. Yes, I said we. I have joined forces with Ash Ketchum and his friends in order to save this universe of ours from the hands of people who would grossly misuse the powers of the Spirit Stone, as I once intended to. If something were to happen to me, then at least you would know this…for every year, every minute, every second you've agonized over trying to save me, I cannot begin to apologize enough. If I never see you again, I want you to know that I love you. I never told you, all these ten years, but I FINALLY understand why you dragged me away from my pathetic attempt to avenge out parents…why you've been trying to stay close to me. You are my one and only sister, and I want you to live from this day forward with your head held high." Janine saw more on the page, but she could no longer read it through the tears she had begun to shed.  
"Wayne…you bastard…why did you make it sound like you were going to die?!" she sobbed.  
"Because he knows what fate Enma will probably impose on him when this case is closed. Yet, he's still racing to the end of it." Riku explained. "That's the kind of man your brother is, Janine."  
"Or he's willing to throw his life away to stop Masters!" Ash said in horror, realizing what was going on as they spoke. "COME ON, LET'S GET BACK TO YOUR HOUSE NOW, JAZZ!"  
he shouted, sprouting his wings as he wrapped his arms around Jazz's waist, with Janine doing the same to Riku, as the four of them flew off for FentonWorks.

* * *

"Maddie!" Jack called out, having just gotten home from buying out the fudge inventory at the local candy store.  
"Jack! Down here!" Maddie called in a panicked tone. Jack raced down the stairs as fast as his stocky legs would carry him, horrified at the sight he saw. Standing in shock a few feet away was his bruised and battered son, sitting down and still bound in ectoplasmic restraints was his wife, lying on the floor with blood pouring from his knife wound was his daughter's tutee, and standing there grimacing and holding a peculiar red orb was his best friend.  
"What the hell's going on here?!"  
"Dad!" Danny called out. "I was hoping you wouldn't have to find out about it this way, but…Vlad's evil and he's been trying to kill you and steal Mom away!"  
"You sure do have a wild imagination, Danny!"  
"He's not kidding, Jack! Vlad kidnapped me and stabbed Wayne over there!" Maddie pleaded with her husband, whose expression turned serious.  
"What…?! Vlad…it's not true, is it…?"  
"Of COURSE it is, you FAT FOOL!" Vlad yelled angrily. "You got everything that SHOULD have been mine! I've been trying to get rid of you for over a YEAR now!"  
"Vlad…WHY?!" Jack said, looking grief-stricken. "WHY ARE YA DOING THIS, VLADDIE?!"  
"Because I'M the one who deserves Maddie! You're nothing but a complete idiotic WASTE OF SPACE!"  
"The only waste of space is YOU!" came Ash's voice, as he, Riku, Jazz, and Janine raced down the stairs.  
"WAYNE!" Janine cried in anguish, running over to her brother.  
"That's IT, Masters…I'm gonna do to you what I should have done from the VERY BEGINNING!" Ash shouted, materializing the Rift Sword into his outstretched right hand and bring it to his side angrily. before he could proceed with his Spirit Slash, however, he was stricken by a bolt of lightning forming from a thundercloud. Everyone conscious turned their heads and were surprised to see Vikki standing there.  
"That'll be more than enough, Ketchum…" she trailed off coldly.  
"Vikki! Why are you HELPING VLAD?!" Jazz called out angrily.  
"Because he's my brother." was Vikki's simple answer. "Because he's all I have left, and whether he cares for me or not, I'll help him!"  
"Vikki…" Vlad looked stunned at his sister's words.  
"Now the two of us are getting the hell out of here!" Vikki said, walking over to Vlad. However, she and Vlad were both surprised when Wayne jumped from his position on the ground and snatched the Spirit Stone out of Vlad's hand. Before Vlad could begin to reach for it, though, Vikki grabbed his hand and dragged him over to the Fenton Ghost Portal, which easily slid open. Ash was gaining consciousness again around this point, and he noticed the two of them running for the ghost portal.  
"OH NO YOU DON'T! GET BACK HERE, DAMN IT!" Ash shouted angrily, climbing to his feet, but it was too late…Vlad and Vikki had fled into the ghost portal. "NO! DAMN IT! DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!" Ash roared, punching the floor as hard as he could as he slumped down to his knees  
"Ash…" Jazz walked over to him. "It's okay, you STILL won. You have the Spirit Stone, at long last!"  
"What?" Ash looked stunned, then smiled impressively as Wayne walked over and dropped the stone in front of Ash.  
"I believe THIS belongs to you, Ketchum." Wayne returned the smile, which quickly vanished as he finally pulled the knife from his back. "Good thing Vlad failed to hit anything vital, eh?"  
"Would someone tell me WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" Jack shouted, still in disbelief at the events he'd just witnessed.  
"Yeah, yeah…it's time for me to tell you guys the truth." Ash said, motioning upstairs after quickly slicing through Maddie's bonds. He, Maddie, Jack, Jazz, and Danny headed upstairs. Wayne started upstairs himself, but felt Janine come up behind him and embrace him in a bear-grip.  
"Haha…that hurts, Janine."  
"I'm so proud of you…"  
"Likewise. I assume you read the letter."  
"Of course."  
"She just about DIED for you tonight, Wayne." Riku chimed in.  
"I had a feeling. I would have come there myself, but I had to settle this score once and for all. I had to do what was right."  
"Idiot." Janine gave him a playful noogie, as the three of them walked upstairs.

* * *

"There." Vikki said, as she removed the belt, allowing Vlad to turn back into Plasmius once more. He floated along with her silently for a few minutes before speaking up.  
"Vikki."  
"Yes?"  
"…There's nothing left for me in the human world." Plasmius admitted, his tone extremely somber.  
"Of course there is! You still have me!"  
"Why did you help me? I shunned you mercilessly and used you to try and destroy my arch enemy."  
"I don't care. You're STILL my older brother."  
"You don't need to get involved in my world." Plasmius stated simply, then started to float off, before Vikki blocked his path.  
"Now hold on a second! Isn't that for ME to decide?! Besides, I've already made an enemy of Ash and the Fentons."  
"…" Plasmius remained silent, looking away from Vikki. She took this opportunity to speak up again.  
"Use me, Vlad. Use me however you want to achieve your goals. This is what you have left. I can do these things. I WILL do these things for you. So use me. This is what I can do for you."  
"Vikki…" Plasmius looked generally warmed by his sister's declaration. "…Let's go back home. We'll call a towing company for the Mercedes if Ketchum hasn't wrecked it yet." And with that, the two of them floated off into the depths of the Ghost Zone…

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Spirit World, Enma sat at his desk talking to a mysterious, shadowy person.  
"Are you sure? You really should stay a while longer."  
"I have a gut feeling…" was the shadowy figure's only response.  
"I warn you, you may not like what you find when you get there. It might not be a pretty sight." Enma cautioned.  
"Send me there. I want to resolve some things."  
"Right. Who am I to argue with you?" Enma sighed, opening a rift, which the shadowy figure ran into.  
"Ash…I hope you're ready for this…"

* * *

Later, past the midnight hour, Ash and friends sat in the living room of his apartment once more, laughing and cheering as they admired the glowing red orb that now laid before them.  
"So…you WEREN'T betraying us?" Yusuke asked Wayne, who shook his head.  
"Not technically. I wanted to settle this myself. I knew the only way to do so was to drug you all. You guys would want to fight alongside me and Aimee would keep me from going."  
"Damn straight I would! Look at that knife wound!" Aimee pointed out.  
"…Indeed." Wayne said, sighing as he walked over to Aimee. "By the way, there's someone I want you to meet." he motioned to Janine, who walked across the room. He pointed at her and said "Aimee, I'd like you to meet my sister, Janine."  
"So you're Wayne's sister! It's so good to meet you!" Aimee said excitedly, grabbing Janine's hand and shaking it.  
"Likewise. I'll assume you're my brother's girlfriend."  
"Why yes, yes I am." Wayne simply smiled, looking at the two most important women in his life seeming to get along without any sort of hitch. Riku then spoke up suddenly.  
"Excuse me, everyone. I have something I'd like to say. I would have done it EARLIER, but SOMEONE had to drug everybody!"  
"I do that ONE time, and you just can't let it go, can you?" Wayne's eyes narrowed comically.  
"ANYway…' Riku trailed off, turning to Osaka. "Now that the floor's had its time with you, I want to ask you something…something VERY important."  
"Okay, what do ya wanna ask me?" Osaka looked straight into his eyes.  
"I was afraid of doing this…of possibly ruining things, but I'm not anymore, because I love you, and I know you love me. What I'm trying to say here is this…" Riku got down on one knee, producing a small black velvet box and opening it. Osaka's expression changed from confusion to absolute shock. "…Ayumu Kasuga, will you marry me?" Riku finished. Osaka stood there in shock for a few seconds, before excitedly nodding.  
"Oh my god! Yes, Riku!" she threw her arms around him excitedly, and seconds later, the shiny new engagement ring was adorning her left ring finger, and they were exchanging a passionate kiss. Among the sea of "Congratulations" that his two friends were receiving, Ash heard a knock at the door. He walked over and opened it, dropping his glass in shock as he saw who was standing before him. Everyone else who knew this person did the same as she came into view.  
"Hello, Ash." she smiled warmly.  
"…MISTY?!"


	41. The Night Before the Wedding

PokeWing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 41: The Night Before the Wedding  
A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

* * *

Disclaimer? We don't need no freaking disclaimer! If you want one so bad, check out episodes 1, 25, or the movie. On with episode 41!

* * *

Ash stood, utterly shocked to see his girlfriend standing in the doorway.  
"I thought you were back home." he finally said, after a few minutes.  
"No, I went to a dimension called Central and trained under the Elrics to learn alchemy."  
"Alchemy…? Wayne's head raised slightly to acknowledge Misty, who raised an arm in defense.  
"…WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" she shouted, spreading her hands an equal distance apart from her body as if she were ready to do something.  
"Wait! Misty, don't!" Janine stepped over to her, looking her in the eyes. "Wayne's on OUR side now!"  
"What…?!" Misty lowered her hands, looking extremely confused.  
"She's right, Misty. Wayne's been with the Spirit Detectives for about two weeks now." Ash explained."He broke free of the thing that's controlling him and he's been helping us out."  
"Really…?" Misty looked surprised, to say the least.  
"Not EXACTLY by choice, but something RESEMBLING that…" Wayne chimed in. "You said you learned alchemy from the…was it Elrics?"  
"I told them I had to help my boyfriend stop someone out to ruin the universe."  
"Fair enough. This place, Central…it's in the Dimensional Elevator, right?"  
"Is that what you call the circular room?" Misty looked confused.  
"Yeah…it's said that when our universe is on the brink of collapse, the elevator will shine and show the way to Balance."  
"The way to balance?" It was Ash's turn to look confused.  
"I have no idea what it means, or if it'll even happen in our lifetimes. This little cryptic clue was inscribed in the same manuscript I read that contained information about the four Spirit Stones."  
"But it didn't reveal the location of this stone or the other three?" Ash asked, pulling out the Fire Stone and glancing at it. "Furthermore…does this stone REALLY have the power to wipe out our race?"  
"Its power is untold." Wayne sighed, looking down. "That THING nearly used me to abuse the stone and destroy humanity….though I'd be lying if I said I DIDN'T want to do it originally. Anyway, to answer your first question, no. All it said about the stones was their names, one for each of the four elemental properties that govern our universe: Earth, Fire, Air, and Water. I had to send Plasmius to get info on that…obviously he took it for himself rather than doing what I said."  
"Well, we have it NOW, so don't really worry about what happened in the past." Janine tried to cheer up her little brother.  
"Actually, I'm glad he had it. If he'd given it to me, I would have used it to wipe out Amity Park. I gotta say…" he glanced over at Aimee with a sly grin. "I kinda LIKE it here now. Maybe I'll see if Enma'll let me stay here as Fenton's sidekick or something."  
"Who's Fenton?" Misty asked, the confusion still present on her face. "For that matter, who's Plasmius?"  
"We have QUITE a bit of catching up to do, so come have a seat, and I'll fill you in…" Ash motioned to the couch, and Misty walked over, looking at the sea of new people standing before her as she did so, and then sitting down slowly…

* * *

(Title) The Night Before the Wedding  
(Jingle) Third Kyattou Ninden Teyandee title jingle

* * *

Two weeks had passed since the gang had retrieved the Spirit Stone. The date was now March 17th, 2005, as Ash stood before Enma's desk at Spirit World. He politely set down the Fire Stone with a smirk.  
"I believe THIS is what you were looking for?" Ash looked across the desk at his boss.  
"I don't believe it…this REALLY IS the Fire Stone!" Enma looked positively stunned. "Ash, you did it! The assignment is now complete!"  
"No it's not." Ash's smirk changed immediately to a serious tone. "There's still someone out there who'll stop at nothing to retrieve that stone, Enma."  
"If you're referring to Masters, he's no threat to us, Ash." Enma said, smiling.  
"No…"  
"Then who?" Enma's expression turned serious as well. "Really, if it's any of the ghos—"  
"Shadow Wayne's alive, Enma."  
"What?!" Enma's eyes widened tremendously.  
"I told you I finished him off in the future, but really…Clockwork sent him back here so I could deal with him permanently in THIS time period. I didn't want to tell anyone because I feel that this is MY fight."  
"I guess I understand that, but you're still a MORON." Enma sternly chastised the young Spirit Detective.  
"I don't care about that. I have some questions for you, and it's about time you answered me. I want the TRUTH this time, Enma. No more lies."  
"…Very well. You turned in the Spirit Stone, I'll answer your questions."  
"First, why didn't you tell me there were FOUR Spirit Stones?"  
"It wasn't relevant." Enma closed his eyes and sighed. "Wayne didn't know there were four, so there was no need to bring it up."  
"Wayne DID know, which means that SHADOW Wayne knows." Ash said, his eyes narrowing in anger.  
"…He knew? HOW?!" Enma looked shocked.  
"He read some old manuscript. Which brings me to my next question…if I'm to understand correctly, all documents pertaining to these stones were either burned or archived here, correct?"  
"That's right. We wanted to keep the average Joe from finding out about the stones and obtaining godhood."  
"So how did Wayne?"  
"There was one manuscript unaccounted for, about sixty years ago. I can only assume his master swiped it."  
"You mean Zenki, right? Who is that guy, and who the hell is Kensuke?" This caused Enma's eyebrows to raise considerably.  
"Where did you hear the name Kensuke?" Enma stared intently at Ash.  
"My future self dropped the name when I was helping save his time period. He thought Kensuke had sent me and my friends. Now who is he?!"  
"He's your predecessor. He was the world's very first Spirit Detective. Sixty years ago, he sacrificed himself to save our universe from an evil FAR more dangerous than Shadow Wayne." Enma explained, standing up and walking over to the nearest window. He peered out of said window as he continued to talk. "I couldn't believe he died…he was the greatest warrior I had EVER seen."  
"Have." Ash corrected, causing Enma to turn around again in shock.  
"Have…?!"  
"According to my future self…he's still alive."  
"Heh…that's just like him." Enma laughed. "After one case, he vanished for ten years, then showed up out of the blue to accept what I thought was his final case."  
"Enma…my future self thought Kensuke had sent me to destroy him." Ash said.  
"Wait…what?!" Enma looked stunned.  
"Whether Kensuke was a good Spirit Detective or not is now irrelevant. He's alive, and he wants me dead. If I had to guess, I'd say HE sent Shadow Wayne."  
"If that's the case, then we're screwed." Enma sighed, looking out the window once more.  
"When this is over, I plan to find him." Ash said, looking over at his boss.  
"Believe me, as you stand now…he would COMPLETELY DESTROY you."  
"That's impossible, right? According to that prophecy, I'm the last Kamoa, right? Doesn't that mean I'm supposed to win?"  
"…" Enma turned around, sporting a somber look on his face as he stared at Ash. "…There's something you need to know, Ash…"

* * *

Meanwhile, in Mushiyori City, all appeared peaceful to the two teenagers who prowled the city streets. Koyomi Mizuhara turned around to her best friend Tomo Takino and asked "So…wanna grab a bite to eat?"  
"Like you need another bite to eat, Porky." Tomo said, energetic as usual. Yomi's pupils vanished as she hollered at her friend.  
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING PORKY?!"  
"You, chunkybutt!" Tomo replied with a laugh. "Oh, hey, what's going on in that alley?"  
"Looks like another one of those dimensional rifts." Yomi replied, ignoring Tomo's comment about the chunkiness of her butt. "Wait, someone's stepping out of it!" Sure enough, seconds later, Riku Kurosawa and Ayumu Kasuga had emerged.  
"I wonder why Enma always sends us to this alleyway?" Osaka looked up in thought.  
"He met a REALLY great hooker here once, maybe?" Riku shrugged. "Who really cares, dear? Let's go have some fun."  
"Okay! Where do you wanna go?" Osaka said cheerfully.  
"HEY!" came a shout from the sidewalk, and the two lovers turned to see Tomo and Yomi standing there.  
"Tomo, Yomi! What have y'all been up to?!" Osaka shouted happily, running over to her friends.  
"Just trying to fit in at the local high school. How about you?" Riku and Osaka looked at each other with a knowing smile for a second before turning back to the girls. Osaka held out her left hand, showing off her engagement ring.  
"You guys are ENGAGED?!" Tomo shouted in disbelief.  
"Yup…and the wedding's tomorrow. Wanna come?"  
"Uh…Osaka, don't you usually send out invitations beforehand?" Yomi had a rather large sweat drop forming on the back of her head. "You know, just so the people you invite have time to prepare and whatnot?"  
"Kinda hard to send transdimensional invitations…" Riku sighed.  
"Oh yeah…have I gotten as retarded as Tomo here?"  
"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN, FATASS?!" Tomo shouted, enraged at her best friend.  
"I think you KNOW what it means…but ANYway…wanna go grab a bite to eat?"  
"Sure." Riku said. "We've got plenty of time." And with that, the four of them walked off for lunch…

* * *

About an hour later, back in Amity Park, Misty stood making some tea when Ash walked in through the door, a look of absolute shock on his face as he walked over and collapsed on the couch.  
"Ash!" she cried out, running over to him. He stayed face down for a few minutes before looking up at Misty.  
"I'm…not alone…"  
"Well of COURSE you're not alone!" Misty laughed. "Your friends and I are here for you!"  
"That's not what I meant…I'm the last Kamoa, or at least…I thought I was."  
"Huh…?"  
"There's another Kamoa out there…Kensuke, my predecessor, is also a Kamoa."  
"Is…?"  
"He's still alive. And apparently he wants me dead. Or he wants me miserable…either way, he's not on the side of Spirit World anymore…" Ash looked down at his couch, away from Misty.  
"When did you find out you had a predecessor?"  
"I went to the future." Ash sighed. "And I don't mean traveling through a rift or anything. I went to the FUTURE. Our world had become a hellhole because I went insane."  
"My god…what happened?"  
"Well…" Ash trailed up, looking away for a second with a sad expression on his face. He knew this was his time to tell the truth, and he wasn't going to keep it in any longer…

* * *

For Wayne Williams, it was another quiet day as he took another walk with Aimee.  
"You ever get the feeling that things in this town have settled down TOO much?" Wayne said, staring down at Aimee as they walked hand-in-hand.  
"Maybe…hey, you should stab somebody. Like, in the knee." she suggested. "Don't, y'know, stab 'em anywhere vital though…the whole 'attempted murder' thing and all…"  
"That's too boring. How about a good old-fashioned street brawl?"  
"Street…brawl…let's go to the arcade!" Aimee said excitedly.  
"Video games? HELL YES." Wayne did a manly arm pump in response. "Oh wait…I gotta go home fast. Gotta get some change."  
"You don't carry change on you?" Aimee looked a bit shocked.  
"Not really. The jingling sound it makes is responsible for at least two people getting their asses stomped due to paranoia issues."  
"You kept count? I'm impressed!" Aimee joked.  
"At least this time I don't REALLY have to worry, right?"  
"Didn't you say your demon was still alive, though?"  
"I think I'd sense him."  
"That doesn't sound very reassuring…"  
"It's not supposed to b—" Wayne cut himself off, as he felt a familiar presence coming from his apartment nearby. "…Can you go on to the arcade? I'll be there in a few minutes." His eyes narrowed dangerously.  
"Uh…okay…what's wrong?"  
"Just…head on to the arcade. I'll tell you later." Wayne said, no joking tone evident in his voice.  
"R…right…" Aimee said, looking confused as she walked off. Wayne climbed the stairs to his apartment quickly. Sighing, he put his key in the lock and turned it, allowing him access to the building within. As he entered, his eyes widened.  
"Hello, Wayne…" Motoko said, looking displeased.  
"Motoko?! Where have you been?"  
"Out recruiting an entire army for the master, of course." was Motoko's cold response.  
"That's right, I sent you out a month ago."  
"No. My master sent me out a month ago. You are no longer him."  
"What are you talking about?" Wayne looked confused.  
"My loyalties lie to the demon that once inhabited you. Since it no longer inhabits you, you are nothing to me but an obstacle that needs to be removed for my master."  
"How did you find out about that?!"  
"I happened to FIND my master while going through the Ghost Zone. While we summoned the ghost army necessary for this invasion, we stumbled upon something interesting."  
"Now now, Motoko…allow me to be the one to show our old friend here…" came a voice that Wayne knew all too well…the voice of Shadow Wayne, as he turned visible before the two.  
"YOU!" Wayne shouted, immediately drawing his sword. "What are you doing back here so soon?! Didn't Ketchum humiliate you bad enough in the future?!"  
"Ah yes, well…he did me a favor. It wasn't the one I was looking for, necessarily, but…" Shadow Wayne trailed off, grinning wickedly as he held up a small blue baseball-sized orb with what looked like water circulating in the middle of it.  
"…The Water Stone…?!"  
"Yes…I now have a Spirit Stone. I believe that only leaves three before I am back to my former godhood."  
"If you think we'll let you KEEP that stone, you're even more insane than I originally believed." Wayne said, pointing his sword at his diabolical former possessor, who simply busted out with a loud chortle.  
"You fool…I'm stronger than you could EVER hope to be. Well…maybe not. You see, this form is rather limited... I'm definitely stronger than you, but... because this body is dead, I can't leech energy from it. I'd like to borrow yours again until I can use this stone to form a new one." Shadow Wayne grinned deviously.  
"And what makes you think I'll LET you possess me?" Wayne said defensively.  
"Because I'll kill your girlfriend AND your sister if I don't get my way."  
"…!" Wayne's eyes widened as he scowled furiously at the shadow.

* * *

"So, what time's the wedding?" Yomi asked casually, biting into a Big Mac as they sat in the local McDonalds.  
"We were thinkin' around noon." Osaka answered. "I'd really like it if y'all were there."  
"Of course we're going! We'll just say our aunts died or something." Tomo exclaimed.  
"Uh…they DID. Like, half a year ago when Wayne blew up our dimension." Yomi said, looking down.  
"Oh yeah. What a complete scumbag!"  
"You do realize I helped him do that, right?" Riku asked somberly. "Of course…the real villain was whatever was inside of Wayne."  
"Was?" Tomo looked curious.  
"Wayne's on the side of justice now. He wasted that demon that possessed him."  
"Well hey, that's awesome!" Tomo shouted excitedly.  
"And yet…" Riku trailed off, looking grimly down. "I feel like this isn't over yet…"

* * *

"Really Wayne, this can go one of two ways when this conversation ends." Shadow Wayne placed a hand on his former host. "You let me possess you without a fight, and I just might spare them in honor of our history together. Or, you fight back, I kill you, then possess your corpse. On one hand, when I get my body back, you'll be free to do whatever. You can go take a worldwide trip or whatever…but on the other, there's really not gonna be much of a world left, now is there?" he laughed wickedly.  
"You son of a…" Wayne looked over at Motoko, who had drawn the very sword that had planted the demon in her in the first place, and had pointed it at his throat. He sighed, knowing he was beaten. He despondently spoke up again.  
"…Do it."  
"Very good choice, Wayne…" he laughed, going intangible and overshadowing Wayne, who let out an agonized scream as he felt his control slip once more…

* * *

"What are you doing?!" Ash called after Misty, who was storming furiously to the door.  
"WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M DOING, YOU BASTARD?!" Misty screamed at the top of her lungs. "I spent all that time training TO HELP YOU, and what do you do?! You fall in love with someone else!" she threw up her arms in a rage. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?!"  
"…I'm sorry. I thought it'd be better to tell you rather than waiting around. I needed you to know. The fact is…" Ash sighed. "I've got a choice to make, between you and Jazz."  
"Oh yeah?" Misty shook her head at Ash disdainfully, tears forming in her eyes. "Well let me make that choice REALLY simple for you." she turned around, storming out of the apartment.  
"Misty, wait!" Ash cried out, scrambling up off of the couch and following her out of the apartment, but when he reached the stairs leading down onto the sidewalk, he could no longer see her. He stared longingly toward the town and sat down on the steps, miserable once again…

* * *

"Ah…much better…" Wayne laughed, once again possessed by the very demon he sought to destroy.  
"Did you have to possess that human again, master?" Motoko asked.  
"Of course…for more than the truth. You see, it's fun to cause suffering among these weak-minded humans." Wayne's eyes narrowed as he looked down at the Spirit Stone of Water. "Hmmhmmhmm…" he chuckled. "It's time to make this town SUFFER. But first…we have a wedding to crash, Motoko. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to Pallet Town."  
"Why Ash Ketchum's home world?" Motoko looked confused.  
"For two reasons. Riku and Ayumu's wedding is to be held there, according to the memories of this shell, for starters. Second, this is my chance to REALLY make Ash Ketchum suffer. And suffer he will…" he trailed off, grinning wickedly as he looked down at the Spirit Stone, the stone itself seeming to glow an ominous color, as if seeing the future of mankind…

* * *

Meanwhile, back at Condo Ketchum, Ash continued to sit on the stairs, downtrodden, as Yusuke approached from the same direction he thought Misty had went.  
"Hey man, what's up?" Yusuke asked as he walked up to the steps.  
"…She's gone, Yusuke." Ash said.  
"She…Misty?" Yusuke hazarded a guess. "Did you tell her the truth?"  
"Yeah. She stormed out. Did you see her?"  
"No, she never went that way. Anyway, why are you moping?"  
"Why am I mop—are you serious?!" Ash shouted, standing up and grabbing Yusuke by the rims of his jacket. "My girlfriend just LEFT! Gone! Out of the blue!"  
"And you were expecting her to stay because…? You told her you were in love with someone else. What did you THINK was going to happen?! I would have left too if I was in her shoes! What you did was stupid and reckless, and furthermore-"  
"Hey, do me a favor…go find someone else to fall in love with, handle it whatever way you feel is best, THEN tell me I was stupid and reckless." Ash glared at Yusuke angrily, letting go of his jacket after a minute.  
"What I meant was, you didn't need this on top of what you're already going through. This could have waited until the mission was over. Based on the fact that you've been acting differently, this mission isn't over."  
"…It's not. Shadow Wayne's still alive."  
"What?! You said you wasted him in the future!" Yusuke looked positively flabbergasted.  
"I know what I said. I lied." Ash sighed. "Here's what really happened…"

* * *

Meanwhile, in Mushiyori City, a fireworks festival was in the process of starting as Riku, Osaka, Yomi, and Tomo found spots on the hillside to watch from afar. As they sat and conversed, two other old friends walked up to the group.  
"Greetings, ladies." Kurama politely bowed to Tomo and Yomi, the latter with hearts in her eyes as she gazed upon his 'pretty-boy' physique.  
"Kurama!" Riku greeted his friend somewhat excitedly.  
"Riku? Why are you back in Mushiyori?" 'Shuichi' looked surprised.  
"It's a long story. Many things have changed in the months that I have been gone."  
"And your allegiance to Wayne?"  
"Funny story about that…I broke off from him, and then he ended up turning to the side of justice. The mission for Ash Ketchum is nearly complete."  
"So why have you come back?"  
"Ayumu here has agreed to be my wife. We are here to enjoy the festivities."  
"Well, as long as you're not evil anymore, I guess." Kuwabara shrugged, sighing.  
"And you guys…what are you doing here?"  
"Kuwabara is awaiting Yukina. I have just come to watch the festival."  
"He's waiting for my sister." Kuwabara chuckled. "He's too ashamed to admit it."  
"T…they do not need the details…" Kurama's cheeks turned slightly red.  
"Whatever dude…" Kuwabara sighed, sitting down next to Yomi and Tomo. "Hey Tomo, hey Yomi."  
"Hey Kazuma!" Tomo greeted cheerfully. "What's up?"  
"You know these girls, Kuwabara?" Kurama asked.  
"They come by the diner I work at."  
"Do they now…?" Kurama stifled a chuckle. "And you noticed these two in particular?"  
"…Exactly what're you sayin', Kurama?"  
"Perhaps in some sense, you like these two."  
"WHAT?!" Kuwabara was red-faced. "MY ONE AND ONLY LOVE IS YUKINA!"  
"I meant that you might feel like more of a surrogate older brother to them." Kurama raised his hands, as sweat drops formed on the back of his head.  
"Oh." Kuwabara's eyes widened in realization.  
"Big brother Kazuma!" Tomo shouted gleefully, jumping on Kuwabara's back.  
"Would you get off of him?!" Yomi shouted angrily. Kuwabara just sat there, a content expression on his face. He looked over suddenly and saw Yukina and Shizuru walking toward the quintet of acquaintances. He quickly got to his feet and scrambled over to Yukina, taking her hands in his.  
"Yukina, my sweet!" he proclaimed, suave as he could be.  
"Alright, Romeo, knock it off." Shizuru smacked Kazuma lightly.  
"Your sister's like some awesome pirate!" Tomo chimed in excitedly, taking note of the eyepatch that now covered Shizuru's left eye.  
"Arrr." Shizuru deadpanned, rolling her remaining eye.  
"Wayne's attack in Demon Door cave must have blinded you in that eye…" Riku hazarded a guess.  
"All I know is that there was a tremendous flash of light before we joined you guys at the bottom of the cave. I didn't close my eye in time, and now I can only see out of my right."  
"That would be the Rai Ryu Sen. He learned it by watching someone perform it first. His family is descended from a line of magic users known as Blue mages…he evolved that trait, allowing him to learn sword technique as well simply by watching it. Anything used on him with a sword is INSTANTLY recorded into his memory." Riku explained. "I'm sorry…"  
"Eh…it's not so bad. They say your other senses pick up the slack. Since I'm HALF-blind, they've HALF picked up." Shizuru shrugged, then walked over to Kurama and grabbed him by his left hand, dragging him off with her. "C'mon, girly man, let's go take in the sights in town."  
"Very well…" Kurama had sweat drops on the back of his head as he was being dragged off. "See you all later, I suppose…"  
"Bye Kurama!" Yomi spoke up, about a minute after he was out of her line of sight.  
"Boy, you really gotta get it together…" Tomo sighed.  
"Oh shut up…" Yomi countered.  
"Kazuma, who are these people?" Yukina finally spoke up.  
"The two schoolgirls are Tomo and Yomi. They come by the diner where I work every day. But enough about that, let's go check out the sights, my sweet!" Kuwabara flexed in a macho manner. Yukina simply nodded and walked off with him, leaving the four friends to sit there…at least, for a minute, anyway, as soon afterward, Tomo got up with a shout of "I'm hungry! Let's go get something to eat, Yomi."  
"Sure, whatever." Yomi sighed, got up, and then turned around to face Riku and Osaka, as if awaiting some response from them.  
"No thanks. We'll sit up here by ourselves for a bit." Osaka smiled. Yomi just shrugged and ran off to join Tomo, as Osaka laid her head up against Riku's shoulder. He smiled contentedly and looked toward the sky as the fireworks began.  
"There's no place I'd rather be…" Riku sighed, as he heard a voice within his head, saying "You don't deserve this, Riku Yukimora. What you deserve is to die alone." Another voice spoke up, saying "You've caused this girl nothing but misery. What makes you think she could ever love you?"  
'How about the fact that she said yes when I asked her to marry me?' Riku thought in retaliation.  
"That doesn't change the fact that you don't deserve her."  
'Whether you're right or not, it's irrelevant. I have her now. And I'm done allowing my thoughts to metaphorically kick the shit out of me.'  
"You can't escape us, Riku…we ARE you. Your innermost thoughts and fears, to be precise."  
Riku frowned outwardly, as Osaka continued to lean on him, blissfully unaware of his inner struggles…

* * *

"So let me get this straight…Clockwork sent him back in time, and you figured it was your place to fight him all on your own?!" It was Yusuke's turn to grab Ash by the rims of his jacket.  
"…This is my fight, Yusuke."  
"No! No it's not!" Yusuke retaliated angrily. "It's OUR fight! ALL of us fought this far together!"  
"…Yusuke. That THING killed Jazz. I only saved her because I did something that NO ONE else could do…and now I'm going to do something ELSE that no one else can do: KILL Shadow Wayne. This isn't just something I have to do…it's something I WANT to do. He killed Jazz just to prove a point, that he can act any way, anywhere he wants…consequence-free. I doubt his defeat in the future even kept him down for long. If he's not back in Amity Park yet, he WILL be before too long."  
"Then let the rest of us help you deal with him." Yusuke suggested.  
"No. Motoko's still at large. If she ALSO returns, I'll need you guys to keep her off of me while I beat eight tons of shit out of him."  
"Ash…you're traveling down a path you SHOULDN'T be going down." Yusuke said, a stern expression on his face. "You want to torture this guy. Understandable, as aside from a miracle you pulled out of your ASS, Jazz would be dead right now because of him. But maybe he should be brought in…maybe he knows something about where the OTHER stones are."  
"I don't give a fuck if he does know. I'm going to kill him the next time he shows his face. You can either stand with me or against me when that happens…" Ash trailed off, his eyes narrowing dangerously.  
"I'm WITH you, man…but isn't this going too far? I mean, even for us? You're determined to bring him down no matter what the cost is…does that include potentially limitless amounts of lives?"  
"…" Ash looked away from Yusuke.  
"Ash…don't do this, man. Don't do this to yourself, your friends, or your loved ones."  
"What are you talking about?!" Ash glared back at Yusuke.  
"You're obsessed. I was ALSO obsessed at one point. I obsessed over finding out who took control over my body when I wasted my predecessor. I nearly drove away everyone who gave a damn about me in my quest for answers."  
"Did you FIND your answers?"  
"Yeah. But Keiko was ready to give up on waiting for me…don't do the same thing I did, Ash. Don't make it your obsession." Yusuke looked down.  
"You once said you were FIRED from the Spirit Detectives in your time, Yusuke. Is this why?" Ash asked, a sincere tone in his voice.  
"Let's PRETEND it was. Why do you ask?"  
"Curiosity, really." Ash said, and Yusuke finally let go of his rims.  
"…I was fired for being part demon. Specifically, my ancestral dad's one of the Three Kings of Makai."  
"The demon world?"  
"You've never been there yet, have you? It's a pretty shitty place after you've got in your sightseeing 'n all."  
"Maybe I'll see it one day." Ash commented, then sniffed the air, his eyes widening as he realized the tea Misty had put on before her big revelation had been boiling all this time, and had now apparently caught fire. "OH SHIT!" he shouted, dashing up the stairs and breaking the fire extinguisher case right outside of his door, then racing back to the kitchen and quickly putting out the fire.  
"Damn…" Yusuke said, surveying that the stovetop and surrounding countertop had been blackened by the fire. Ash seemed to stare intently into the blackness, as if he were turning it into some sort of metaphor…

* * *

Enma gazed into his coffee cup sadly, listening as Ratty walked by.  
"'Sup, foo?"  
"…" Enma remained silent, continuing to stare into his coffee cup.  
"Uh…boss man?" Ratty waved a paw in front of his employer's face.  
"…Oh, hello Rattabald."  
"Foo, I told you not ta call me that!"  
"Funny how things have turned out, isn't it?" Enma commented, completely ignoring Ratty's outburst as he finally drank from the cup he'd been staring at since well before the rodent's arrival.  
"What'cha mean, boss man?"  
"I mean…Riku and Wayne turning to our side, an old employee of mine turning AWAY from our side…and of course, this…" Enma trailed off, holding up the baseball-sized red orb that had been handed over to him by Ash earlier that day.  
"DAYUMN…Ketchum really did it!"  
"Anyway, I want to set up a few precautions for what I mentioned a few seconds back. I'd like to go over these with you, Ratty. But…" he looked up, noticing Nyamo had just walked into the room. "…We can go over those later. Right now, I need to talk to Minamo here."  
"Aight, later 'foo." Ratty shrugged and walked off, as Minamo Kurosawa approached the desk.  
"Well…tomorrow's a big day." Enma said, drinking his coffee as he stared at the woman who had spent the past six months occupying the castle.  
"Six months ago…I didn't even accept him."  
"Now he's become someone you could almost be proud of. He saved several people in the past month. I know it doesn't make up for what he did entirely, but…"  
"No…what makes up for what he's done is his willingness to change." Nyamo smiled.  
"Indeed. You have a fine son, Minamo Kurosawa."  
"…I do…don't I?"  
"So, tomorrow you will watch him get married, and afterwards, he and Ayumu will stay long enough to help Ash defeat that vile demon that once possessed Wayne."  
"At long last, this case can come to an end…"  
"Indeed…" Enma lied, staring back down into his coffee cup.

* * *

"You KNOW you don't deserve happiness. Your very existence is a sin!" called the familiar voice in Riku's head.  
"Yes, you deserve nothing less than to die…or to turn out like the father you despise so much…"  
'No, no I don't! I'm better than that bastard! LEAVE ME ALONE!' Riku thought, a look of righteous anger crossing his face.  
"We shall NEVER leave you…"  
"Oh yes you will!" came a voice that surprised Riku. Standing next to him in his mind was his wife-to-be, Ayumu Kasuga, who stared the nondescript shadowy beings down. "I love Riku, no matter what the lot of YOU think! Tomorrow, we'll be married, and there's not a damn thing you or ANYONE can do to stop us! Now leave…go away from my husband's mind…and NEVER return!" she threatened, and to Riku's amazement, the shadowy figures slowly vanished. He slowly opened his eyes and looked down at his bride-to-be, who looked up at him and smiled warmly.  
"Were you aware of...that?" Riku paused, unable to describe what had just happened.  
"I saw you looking upset. It's weird…I just wanted to help you, and suddenly I was inside your mind…" Osaka explained.  
"You just helped me conquer demons I've been with my entire adult life…not literal demons like with Wayne…but these were every bit as bad." Riku gasped in amazement. He pulled Osaka closer, and as the final fireworks went off in the night sky, he pulled her in for a passionate kiss, as the final fireworks seemed to represent a celebration of the two young people who, by this time tomorrow, would be man and wife…


	42. Wedding Day Disaster

PokeWing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 42: Wedding Day Disaster  
A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

Disclaimer. Episodes 1 and 25, and the first chapter of the movie. RAR.

The newly-repossessed Wayne stood atop the apartment building in which he lived, gazing out upon the sky as the sun slowly rose into place overhead. He grinned evilly as his eyes narrowed, suddenly taking off with a howl of laughter as he raced at the speed of sound toward FentonWorks. Within seconds, he'd arrived at his destination, phasing through the ceiling and quickly down into the basement. He rematerialized in front of the portal.  
"Finally…my glory day has come…" he laughed. "Riku…it's time to see what happens when you betray me, you worthless bastard! You and your soon-to-be wife better enjoy your wedding while you can…" he floated into the portal, with only one destination in mind…Pallet Town.

* * *

(Title)Wedding Day Disaster  
(Jingle) 0:40-:049 of the Gundam Wing track "The Man Who Will Make History"

* * *

Meanwhile, over in Condo Ketchum, Ash, Jenny, Yusuke, Mac, Bloo, Timmy, and Jimmy were all gathered in front of the TV, which Enma had set up very early on to sync with his own wrist communicator. Right now, they were seeing old friends line up and take their seats in Ash's backyard.  
"Sorry you couldn't be here today Ash. It's quite beautiful here, as you can see…" Enma explained, giving the gang a panning shot of the backyard, which had been heavily decorated for Riku and Osaka's wedding.  
"How'd you manage all that in one night?" Jenny asked in awe.  
"I had some help from Ash's mother."  
"Whoa! Can we SEE his mom?" Bloo asked. "I'm kinda curious as to what spawned him…"  
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't wonderin' that myself…" Yusuke chimed in.  
"Very well…here she comes now." Enma pointed the communicator's screen toward Delia, who was dressed in a purple bridesmaid's gown.  
"Ash!" she cried excitedly.  
"Uh…hey Mom. I guess this explains my gigantic absence from around the house."  
"Sweetie, I already knew you were working for Enma…we go way back." Delia explained.  
"I guess that saves me awkwardly explaining what the hell happened in that tournament I fought Wayne in, then…but wait." Ash's eyes suddenly widened. "How do you know my boss?"  
"…Your father was my friend." Enma explained.  
"Enma told me you found out about your heritage…Ash, I'm so sorry I never told you. I had every intention of doing so, but I figured it'd be better to wait until your fifteenth birthday in order to prepare you for the wings…"  
"Except my biological clock went off two years early…why? Why did my wings show up before the other Kamoa?"  
"I can't say for sure…even your predecessor's wings didn't show up until he'd turned sixteen." Enma said, his eyes squinting as if he were deep in thought.  
"Oh hey boss dude, are we getting ready to start?" came the voice of Ratty. "Cause I want some damn weddin' cake!"  
"We just might be…" Enma then turned to Ash. "We'll continue this after the wedding, Ash."  
"Gotcha. I do have a few more questions."  
"I have one too. Is your mom into imaginary friends? She's HOT." Bloo whistled, earning a Mental Taser from Ash. "What? She IS!"  
"She IS pretty hot…" Mac admitted, surprising Ash.  
"She's my MOM!" Ash shouted.  
"Shh! Pipe down, idiots! I don't want to miss the event!" Jenny chided the three bickering ninnies.

* * *

"Very sharp." Kurama said, admiring Riku in his white tuxedo as the two stood off to the side, awaiting the procession. "Ayumu is a lucky woman."  
"I'm the lucky one, my friend." Riku smiled. "Thank you for agreeing to be my best man."  
"No problem at all. Now where is the future Mrs. Kurosawa, I wonder?"

* * *

"Well, this is it!" Botan said cheerily. "The happiest day of every woman's life. I remember my own wedding. It was absolutely magical…"  
"YOU were married, Botan?" Osaka looked flabbergasted.  
"Once…" she sighed, thinking of the man she had married. "He's been dead for nearly sixty years, though."  
"Wow, I never knew you were married…" Osaka trailed off, peeking out from behind the gate toward her future husband. She could literally feel herself get weak in the knees as she stared at him, for he was dressed to look devilishly handsome. She herself was nothing to sneeze at either, as she stood there in her traditional bridal gown, although hers lacked sleeves completely, which added to her subtle beauty.  
"Are we about ready?" Yomi asked, walking up to Osaka and admiring her attire.  
"Yep! Time to go get married!" Osaka said, with an extremely cheery tone, and who could blame her? It was to be the happiest day of her young life…

* * *

"Riku, I'd like to say something…" Minamo Kurosawa walked up to her son, smiling.  
"Mother…what is it?" Riku looked puzzled.  
"I just wanted to say that…I've greatly misjudged you." Nyamo said, staring up into Riku's eyes. "You ARE a good person. I'm…I'm proud to be your mother."  
"Thank you…" Riku smiled, pulling his mother close to him in a fierce embrace. The two stood there, locked in each other's embrace for a moment.  
"I love you Riku." Nyamo whispered gingerly into her son's ear. She then proceeded to plant a careful kiss upon his cheek. The boy smiled.  
"I love you too mom." Riku just hugged Nyamo tighter, although he tried to be gentle, as he was a very strong human being.  
"Make me proud." Were the last words from the mother to the groom to be before she stepped back, exiting the area and retaking her seat in the crowd for the ceremony? Riku took another deep breath, turned to Kurama, who was to walk out with him, and nodded.  
"Let's do this."

* * *

Kurama stuck his hand out from behind the bushes, and that was the cue. The traditional organ music played at wedding's was being played on a very large, very shiny pipe organ. Clearly Enma had spared no expense, being the Overlord of Spirit World and all, in getting this wedding looking fancy. Although there was one element that definitely arched a few eyebrows and raised a few questions; Ratty, the Organist.  
"Ratty knows how to play the organ?" Yusuke questions, taking a big bite of some popcorn and an equally large and loud slurp from his Dr. Pepper.  
"What do you think this is, a movie?" Jenny sighed. Everyone knew she wondered about Yusuke, more often than not.  
"Well, I mean, he pretty much has to run across the keys," Bloo chimed in, choosing to ignore Jenny. "But he does have it pretty good." Mac in turn, put his two cents in after a long sigh.  
"What are you talking about Bloo? He's not running across the keyboard at all. It's a slow song he's just standing up on the bench." Enma, having overheard the argument on his wrist communicator, was now keeping said communication tool focused on Ratty, who was doing a surprisingly professional job of playing the Organ. He had even taken the time to do something that nobody had ever seen Enma's rodent companion do; he was dressed up in a little tux, and even had the hair on the top of his head slicked back.  
"Do you hear that, Stud?" Enma chuckled, leaning up from his front row seat to whisper to Ratty who was playing the traditional "Here Comes the Bride" song, as Riku and Kurama were taking their time walking up to the aisle, the latter trying to keep the former from developing cold feet.  
"Damn right!" Ratty proclaimed loudly and triumphantly, as was expected of him at this point from those around him. "I'm a groundhog of many talents! Now let's get these bitches married!" Ratty turned and continued playing the wedding song, attempting and failing miserably at headbanging as he did so. Enma just sighed and glanced back to the communicator to see what was going on at Condo Ketchum.  
"Wait, he's a groundhog?" Bloo said slowly, puzzled. "Then why is his name-" The imaginary friend was abruptly cut off by Yusuke's hand slamming over his mouth.  
"Shush!" Yusuke commanded quickly. "It's starting."

* * *

Riku had finally managed to reach the appropriate end of the aisle, although everyone in attendance could see that he had taken as much time as he could. He couldn't describe it, but the nervousness came the moment he stepped out from behind the bushes, when everybody looked back to watch him and Kurama walk up the aisle side by side. Not a word was spoken, and Riku was fighting very hard not to break out in a sweat, inadvertently grinding his teeth. His best friend just chuckled, placing a comforting hand on the shoulder of the young groom.  
"Relax, my friend." Kurama leaned in, whispering quietly and quickly to Riku. "Everyone will be looking at her, but remember, SHE will be looking at YOU." The latter paused for a moment, taking the thought in, and then quickly wiped his brow away with the back of his sleeve, giving his friend a quick, discreet nod. With a smile, Kurama pulled his hand back, and the attention turned back to the other end of the aisle, where the other 'Celebrity of the Hour', emerged from behind her end of the bushes and began to walk down the aisle herself.

As the music picked back up, everyone turned their attention once again to the end of the small hedge structure that Riku had emerged from. This time, it was Ayumu, accompanied by her bridesmaid, Chiyo Mihama, who looked quite cute herself, in her little white dress, but nothing was comparable to how Ayumu Kasuga carried herself today. Her future husband was fighting a battle to keep his jaw from the floor. She truly looked amazing, her body filling out the sleeveless white dress very well, her translucent veil draped innocently over her head, her beautiful bouquet of black roses, as the two had planned, was held firmly in the grasp of her right arm.  
"My wife is fucking beautiful…." Riku whispered to himself, although perhaps a little louder than he would have preferred, as Kurama let out a hearty chuckle, accompanied by another couple of pats on the back. The organ continued to sound out, almost sounding like it was echoing throughout the grassy clearing in which this procession was taking place. Osaka glanced around the aisles as she walked past each and every "pew" made up of expensive chairs, noticing old friends and new acquaintances, but none of them mattered as she looked up at Riku. At that point, nothing else in the world mattered to her. She smiled beautifully as she finally reached the altar, standing before her soon-to-be husband as her maid of honor and bridesmaids (all of her former schoolmates) lined up behind her and took their positions. The preacher looked down at the two, before beginning the ceremony…

* * *

"I always cry at these things…" Yusuke trailed of, biting harshly into the end of a handkerchief as he teared up.  
"You wuss…" Jenny trailed off, before starting to 'tear up' (leaking oil from her eyes) as well. "Well don't hog it, Urameshi!" she grabbed the handkerchief away from him. The two then noticed that Ash had a strange look on his face.  
"Uh…Ash?"  
"…" Ash remained silent, as he stared at the TV.

* * *

"With great joy, we come together to join this man, Riku Kurosawa, and this woman, Ayumu Kasuga, in matrimony." The preacher spoke as the organ quieted down and the two stood together, the former holding a firm, protective grip on his wife's hands, and the latter staring into her soon to be husbands beautiful sapphire eyes. The priest just looked on with a smile and continued the procession.  
"This marriage is an event in the lifetime of a love. Neither I, nor all society, can join these two lovers today. Only they can do what they have chosen. They are joining themselves, each to the other. As they find union with one another, they proclaim that union today and pledge its future. We, by our participation in this celebration, do but recognize and honor their intention to dwell together as husband and wife." The preacher proceeded to look up from his bible, and nod to Riku, who returned the nod, and turned again to his bride, whose hands he had yet to let go of.  
"I promise you Ayumu Kasuga, that I will be your loving and loyal husband from now on. I will share with you all of life's joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, until death parts us." Riku almost choked at the end of that, but somehow, he was able to keep his cool and offer a surprisingly calm and collected, yet also very loving smile, to his wife, who spoke next after a small silence of her own, which the former could only assume was a final moment of mental preparation.  
"I promise you Riku Kurosawa, that I will be your loving and loyal wife from now on. I will share with you all of life's joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, until death parts us" Ayumu repeated the same phrase Riku had spoken to her, but neither of them sounded like they were reading from a script. These two were speaking from the heart to one another for all to see. Ayumu sniffled a little bit, noticeable only by Riku for he was face to face with her, to which he merely winked. This was love at its finest. The end of those words, however, would turn the attention slightly back to the preacher, as it was his turn to speak.  
"Each of you has rings for each other. Would you exchange them?." The two nodded, more to each other than to the reverend, and turned halfway each to Chiyo and Kurama, their respective ring bearers, and each took a golden wedding band from their bearer's box. As Riku and Ayumu were placing their rings on each other's ring fingers, the minister continued to speak. "As a ceaseless reminder of this hour, and of the promise you have made to each other, these rings also speak of the oneness you now experience as husband and wife."  
Meanwhile, throughout the vows and the ceremony, the crowd was mostly quiet, but a few tears and hushed whispers could be heard here and there, Nyamo Kurosawa being the most emotional, her first handkerchief already soaked from tears and her second one well on its way.  
"Now you will feel no rain, for each of you will be shelter to the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be warmth to the other." The preacher continued through his statement of his role in all this matrimony as the bride and groom had gone back to being lost in one another's eyes. "Now you will feel no loneliness, for each of you will be a companion to the other. Now you are two bodies, but there is only one life before you. Go now to your dwelling place, to enter the days of your life together. And may your days be good, and long upon the earth, and eternally when you both cross together to the heavens."  
There was a silence as the two gazed into each other's eyes lovingly, and slowly, Riku starting to move his head closer to Ayumu's.  
"Ah ah ah." The priest scolded, playfully, causing the two to look at him questioningly, although the look on the groom's face was more eagerness, to which the preacher just returned a smile, before clearing his throat and moving forward with the last little bit of his piece. "Because they have so affirmed, in love and knowledge of the other, so also do I declare that Riku Kurosawa and Ayumu Kasuga are now husband and wife." Again, he paused, although at this point, Enma assumed it was just to fuck with Riku. If the latter hadn't been lost in his very newly appointed wife's eyes, then he probably would have been giving his own version of a mental taser to the reverend, who finally opened his mouth to begin speaking the last words, and the ones that everyone was waiting for, to the new couple. "You may now kiss the bride." He closed his bible and stepped back a few steps, allowing some room as Riku wasted no time bringing his lips closer to Ayumu's, who was doing the same, and within a moment their lips locked in a kiss.

* * *

"Enjoy it while it lasts, Riku... it'll be the last thing you ever do." Shadow Wayne monologued, staring from atop a hillside, as he began a walk toward the newlyweds that would change history…

* * *

"Okay, every girl in the audience line up!" Osaka happily shouted. "It's time to catch the bouquet!" As she finished speaking, everyone did as they were told. However, before Osaka could toss the bouquet, she was interrupted by a sound: a slow, clapping sound. Everyone present turned their heads to see what appeared to be Wayne standing there, smiling as he clapped.  
"Wayne?!" Enma looked surprised. "What are you doing here? You were supposed to stay in Amity Park!"  
"I'm just here to honor my best friend on the day of his wedding…" Wayne trailed off, a sparkle in his eyes as he walked toward Riku, who met his friend halfway with an embrace.  
"I'm…glad you could make it." Riku said, smiling, but that smile turned into an expression of shock and horror with the next words that came out of Wayne's mouth.  
"This is how I deal with traitors, Riku." He said calmly, then immediately broke the 'dude hug' and wordlessly fired a Devil Shotgun right into the chest of the unguarded groom. Time stood still, Osaka watching in horror as Riku flew back, hitting the ground with a sickening thud. She ran over to Riku, tears immediately falling from her eyes as she frantically called the name of her new husband.

"RIKU! **RIKU!**" she called, hoping for a response, but to her and the world, life had left the body of Riku Kurosawa.  
"_**MAN DOWN**_!" Enma shouted at the top of his lungs. "ASH, FORGET MY ORDERS AND GET BACK TO PALLET TOWN ON THE DOUBLE!"

* * *

The gang stared in wordless horror at the television screen, until Jenny finally uttered the words all of them had dreaded.  
"He's…dead!"  
"Is that really Wayne?!" Mac shouted in disbelief.  
"No…not Wayne." Ash said, his eyes wide. "SHADOW Wayne!"  
"WHAT?!" came the cries of shock from Mac, Jenny, and Bloo.  
"He's still alive…and now he's claimed one of us…" Yusuke explained grimly.  
"Two of us." Jenny corrected, her tone equally grim.  
"You son of a…" Ash growled in a dangerous tone, staring at the TV.  
"Didn't Enma just tell you to go home?!" Jenny said suddenly.  
"Yeah, let's…wait!" Ash said, his eyes widening in shock and amazement.

* * *

"I'LL take those." Shadow Wayne laughed, grabbing the bouquet from the grief-stricken Osaka. He then threw the flowers onto the ground, stomping them into tiny pieces.  
"I HATE these events…" he muttered, turning to Enma. "Don't you, Enma?"  
"You bastard…" Enma growled, furiously snarling at the evil entity that stood before the entire audience. He then pulled the detonator to the bomb strapped to Wayne's ankle from his shirt pocket.  
"Enma, Enma, Enma… you've grown so predictable...go ahead and press it. Of course…I'm guessing you had explosives wired to this thing powerful enough to level a city block…in which case you'd be killing everyone here. Besides…you'd be screwing the entire universe over."  
"By changing the future? Big fucking whoop. I know... he's alive." Enma countered.  
"And if I were concerned about that, that would have been my next sentence." Shadow Wayne grinned wickedly. "No…I meant you'll DESTROY THE UNIVERSE. Because of THIS." He ended his sentence by reaching into his coat pocket and brandishing…  
"My GOD…" Enma said, his eyes wide with horror. "The Spirit Stone of Water?!"  
"Funny thing…it was hidden in the EXACT spot your file on the Fire Stone had listed regarding its location. I'd like to know where the Fire Stone had gone, but doesn't it seem strange?" Shadow Wayne posed a serious question, to be sure. "But it doesn't matter currently…hand over the Fire Stone." He grinned wickedly.  
"You knew…?"  
"That you had it? Of course I did. I may be a separate entity, but I still retain all of Wayne's memories. You're an idiot if you think I'll accept that you don't have it on you right now."  
"Well you'll HAVE to, because I don't." Enma snarled.  
"…" Shadow Wayne's eyes narrowed and his expression became a frown of discontent as he glanced around the audience briefly before he spotted his target. He raised the Water Stone, and…

* * *

Ash watched in horror as a giant glob of water enveloped his mother's head.  
"MOM!" he shouted, his eyes widening in horror.

* * *

"DELIA!" Enma shouted, looking over at his longtime 'secret' friend, watching as she sputtered.  
"Give me the stone or she DIES!" Shadow Wayne bellowed.  
"…" Enma snarled lividly at the evil entity, before sighing and plucking the Fire Stone from his shirt pocket, giving it a quick toss. The demon laughed triumphantly as he caught the Fire Stone with his free hand, then dissipated the water globule enveloping Delia's head. Delia then dropped to the ground, gasping for air. Before the shadow could do further though, he was tackled by a grief-stricken, enraged Osaka.  
"YOU SON OF A BITCH! I'LL FUCKING TEAR YOU APART!" she screamed, as she grabbed several locks of his host's hair and slammed his head repeatedly into the ground. She did this for over a minute, but the shadow's grip on both stones never loosened. As she finally tired out, he laughed, easily shoving her off of him.  
"Ya done?" he grinned sarcastically, then turned to her, using a backhand that sent her sailing backward, crashing into the altar where she had just gotten married. He laughed as he raised the Fire Stone, firing a massive blast of white-hot flames toward Osaka. She closed her eyes, let out a monosyllabic chuckle and whispered "Together forever…" as the flame raced toward her. As it enveloped her, he let out a wicked howl of triumph, slowly allowing the flames to die down. His howl of triumph, however, turned to a shriek of horror as the flames vanished, as there before the entire audience, who were now running scared, stood the previously-assumed-dead Riku Kurosawa, shocking everyone who knew him as they gazed upon the wings that had now sprouted from his back, gently wrapped around his wife.  
"You…YOU CAN'T BE ALIVE! I FUCKING SHOT YOU IN THE CHEST!" he yelled, his eyes wide. Riku ignored him, however, repeating the words Osaka had just said…  
"Together forever…" This caused Osaka to turn around and happily embrace her husband.  
"Riku! YOU'RE ALIVE!" she cried, tears flowing from her eyes as she fiercely embraced Riku, who smiled down at her.  
"Yes dear…I'm alive…" he trailed off, a look of determination growing on his face as he grimaced at the shadow. "…But HE'S not going to be!"  
"…" Shadow Wayne remained silent, a look of fear plastered on his face as he backed up.  
"Go…" Riku smiled at his wife, nudging her off to the side as he took a battle stance.  
"But…!"  
"GO." Riku repeated. "Things are about to get REALLY ugly."  
"Y…yes…" she glanced at him once before turning around and running over to Enma. Shadow Wayne attempted feebly to grab her, but was cut off by a light speed elbow to the face from Riku. He screamed in pain, clutching his face, as Riku made what was, by far, the most epic speech anyone present had heard to date since the beginning of this case:  
"You aren't satisfied with just wanton destruction, demon. You took the soul of my friend and perverted it forever. You attempted to kill Ash's mother without a moment of hesitation, and tried to do the same thing with my wife just now…everyone and everything near you suffers from just having you in their presence. You are without reason, pity, remorse, and now, you are without LIFE. The amount of pain I am about to inflict on you will be legendary. So much so, as a matter of fact, that being devoured by a Nightmare would be comparable to petting a FLUFFY KITTEN when I'm done with you!" Those still present looked on in awe and horror. Ratty had even gone so far as wetting himself in response, quickly glancing down at his urine-soaked pants and then back at Riku with a stutter of "Oh f-fucking snap…"  
"You think you can—" Before Shadow Wayne could even finish, however, another elbow to the face by Riku had silenced him, followed by a knee to the gut, causing Shadow Wayne to double over in pain. As he did so, Riku followed with yet another elbow, this time to the back of his head, completely flooring him. As he did so, Riku furiously started kicking him, alternating between the gut and the groin. He grabbed Shadow Wayne by his host's hair with both hands and proceeded to rip him up to his feet, or so everyone thought. He stunned everyone present by actually lifting him off of the ground and flinging him around in a rage, sending him flying into the now-destroyed altar. Again, before the demon could react, he found himself staring down a Death Ray, which hit him square in the chest, sending him flying back no less than a mile from where the fight had been taking place. As Shadow Wayne flew back, he attempted to regain control of his body, but was prevented from doing so as Riku actually outran him and turned around, sending him back toward the few who had remained to watch the historic beatdown. As he reached the site where the altar now lay in splinters, Riku sent him flying into the air with a massive kick to his spine, and then, with wings spread far and wide, he jumped, using said wings as propulsion to reach over a mile into the air, where he waited for Shadow Wayne to arrive, sending him back down to Earth at breakneck speed with one last kick. As Shadow Wayne hit the earth again, the ground became a hundred foot-long crater, where, at the bottom, the demon laid, motionless. Riku finally landed back on the ground, staring down at the demon, halfway with anger, halfway with pity for his fallen friend.  
"Wayne…" he said, pity evident in his voice. "Forgive me…but I know you would rather be dead than be this demon's puppet for another second…" he dropped to his knees and sighed. "Enma…" he trailed off as Enma approached. "What did it mean…?"  
"I don't quite follow." Enma said.  
"Did it really have to come to this?"  
"I don't know, but you may have just single-handedly saved the Dimensional Universe." Enma smiled. "I can't believe it, but you actually took him out using Life Energy!"  
"Heh…" Riku chuckled monosyllabically.

* * *

"Good God!" Mac shouted. "He just flat-out DECIMATED Wayne!"  
"…" Ash remained silent, staring intently at the television.  
"So it's FINALLY over…!" Jenny said, a smile crossing her face as she hugged Yusuke tightly.  
"LUNGS…CRUSHING…" Yusuke gasped out.  
"It's not over yet…!" Ash shocked everyone with his sudden outburst. "RIKU! LOOK OUT!"

* * *

Ash's warning had come far too late, however. As Riku started to walk away, both he and Enma were propelled far away by an enormous explosion that occurred within the crater that Shadow Wayne's body had made. This explosion's noise had amazingly been drowned out by the absolutely deafening scream of rage that occurred along with it. As the explosion subsided, Shadow Wayne stood, alive and well…well, alive, at least. His lab coat had been scorched black by the explosion, and he stood there, snarling as his pupils completely vanished.  
"You INSIGNIFICANT, WORTHLESS PILE OF SHIT!" he roared, looking over at Riku, who had only survived the blast due to a last-minute shield set up by Enma to protect the two of them. "You DARE to think you can stand against ME?! Against GOD HIMSELF?!"  
"Oh shut the hell up." Enma said weakly, standing up. "You're no god…"  
"SILENCE!" Shadow Wayne roared once again, as flames surrounded him, dancing wildly around the demon. "I'll KILL ALL OF YOU!"  
"…" Riku rose to his feet, a determined look once again present on his face as he stared down the demon. He noticed that the Fire Stone was not flashing.  
"What…?!"  
"Zenki doomed the lot of you by training the FOOL I now possess! I'm going to show you the FINAL technique he taught Wayne!" he shouted, as the flames raised above his head, all converging into one gigantic orb-like ball of fire.  
"No…!" Enma said, gazing on in horror, realizing the technique that Shadow Wayne was about to unleash, calling its name in fear. "The Phoenix Flare!"  
"That's right, Enma…" Shadow Wayne laughed as he raised up off of the ground.  
"Riku…" Enma said, a look of grim realization on his face. "…We CAN'T STOP THAT."  
"Enma…protect Ayumu…" Riku said, his look of determination not faltering, despite his grim tone.  
"…What are you going to do…?" Enma glanced over at Riku.  
"I'm stopping it."  
"You CAN'T. All that'll be left of you is a greasy SMEAR!" Enma shouted.  
"Just do it!" Riku shouted back.  
"THIS IS IT!" Shadow Wayne shouted, ending any further discussion between the two by firing the Phoenix Flare. Enma ran over to Osaka, enveloping both her and himself in a shield of Spirit Energy, as Riku surprised all present by running away from the Phoenix Flare.

* * *

"What is he DOING?!" Bloo shouted, all pretenses of humor gone from his tone.  
"Riku, you dumbass! DO SOMETHING! HE'S GONNA RIP YOU ALL TO SHREDS IF YOU DON'T!" Ash bellowed.

* * *

"I AM DOING SOMETHING!" Riku retaliated, hearing Ash's shout. He then turned around, kicking up dirt as he thrust up his hands, both of which being surrounded with Spirit Energy as he caught the Phoenix Flare. The giant flaming ball pushed downward on him, and his pain was evident as he let out an agonized scream, feeling like he was going to pass out from the immense heat given off by the attack. He continued to scream bloody murder as the ground beneath him began to break apart. Shadow Wayne howled with laughter, his sick, bloodshot eyes wide as he continued to cackle feverishly.  
"DIE WORM DIE!" he roared, as Riku began to sink into the earth. Osaka buried her head into Enma's shirt, sobbing as she realized that Riku's effort was most definitely a futile one. Enma looked on in awe, realizing that the Phoenix Flare had yet to detonate. Suddenly, a bright flash emerged from the small crater, originating from Riku. He suddenly rose off of the ground. Shadow Wayne's laughter immediately ceased, as his own attack started to rise off of the ground, Riku grunting heavily as he hefted it back up.  
"TAKE THIS!" Riku shouted, rearing back his right hand, making a fist, and punching the Phoenix Flare, sending it rocketing back to Shadow Wayne. The demon didn't even have time to scream as the attack hit him dead-on, completely engulfing him. It was then that the attack detonated, sending large fireballs hurtling in all directions, causing explosions as they hit the ground, taking out various structures within Pallet Town, including a large chunk of the laboratory where Ash had first gotten his very first Pokémon, and, to Ash's horror, a large part of his mother's house. As the explosions occurred, Riku gazed on in horror before collapsing to the ground in a motionless heap, his body smoking from the burns he had suffered during his amazing counterattack. Osaka's scream was drowned out by the sound of Shadow Wayne's body hitting the ground with an enormous thud. To Enma's horror, Shadow Wayne slowly climbed to his feet, making loud groans of extreme pain until the blue orb in his hand flashed, and his wounds began to magically vanish.  
"RIKU-!" Osaka screamed, running over to her husband. Enma did the same, but immediately felt for a pulse. Noting that Riku had not yet jumped off of the mortal coil, he frantically motioned to Ratty and Botan to join him. "GET OVER HERE! HE'S STILL BREATHING!"  
"Heh…ha ha…KYA HA HA HA!" Shadow Wayne shrieked with laughter, flying up off of the ground as a rift opened up right above his head. "Look at all of this destruction…the history books were indeed correct about the destruction of Pallet Town, but it was YOU who destroyed it, Riku Kurosawa-Yukimora, not I! And now…because I KNOW you're still listening, Ash…it's time for a REPEAT PERFORMANCE! I will destroy Amity Park!" he cackled insanely as he floated into the rift, said rift closing behind him, leaving the group of people who remained staring onward in knowing terror…

* * *

"My god…I knew it was coming, but…" Jimmy trailed off, having joined the gang after Ash's earlier outburst. "This is far more horrible than I'd EVER feared…"  
"Ash…?" Bloo called out, concern in his voice as he noticed that Ash had slowly risen from the couch and walked over to the TV. He gripped the ends of the set, making incomprehensible stutters as he visibly shook before scaring the crap out of everyone in the room as he let out an enormous, rage-filled scream, picking up the TV and throwing it out of the window. Jenny and Mac had, in this time, walked over to the door leading to the outside world. They stood there as Ash stormed over to it.  
"**GET OUT OF MY WAY**." Ash said in a horrifyingly enraged tone. When they refused to move, Ash horrified them both, as well as Yusuke, Bloo, and Jimmy, with his next move: he backhanded the two of them, sending them flying into the nearest adjacent walls. He then opened the door and stormed outside, the door slamming shut behind him. He stormed down the stairs and opened the door. The second he stepped out into the open, he bellowed louder than he ever had before.  
"THAT'S IT! NO MORE! DEMON OR NOT, _**I'M GOING TO FUCKING END YOU, WAYNE!"**_  
"Hold that thought…" came a voice Ash recognized all too well…  
"Motoko…GET THE FLYING FUCK OUT OF MY WAY." Ash warned, venom in his voice as the Rift Sword formed in his right hand.  
"Before you take on the master…you'll have to deal with us." Motoko grinned evilly, as an entire legion of ghosts became tangible before Ash's eyes. As they did, Motoko laughed wickedly. The siege of Amity Park had ALREADY begun, Ash realized, as he gazed down the army that stood before him...


	43. The Shadow of Failure

PokeWing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 43: The Shadow of Failure  
A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

Disclaimer. Episodes 1, 25, and the movie. Read 'em there. On with the giant fight episode!

* * *

Ash stood there in front of his apartment, staring down each and every ghost that had appeared before him, his determination unwavering.  
"You know…the master has SOMETHING resembling respect for the Kamoa. It's why you're still alive currently. If you surrender now, perhaps I'll pay him respect and spare your miserable life."  
"Considerate offer." Ash spat. "I've got a better one, though. Get out of my way now and I won't KILL YOU. Your master's dead anyway. He's used up EVERY CHANCE I'VE EVER GIVEN HIM."  
"If you're referring to that sack of flesh Wayne, I don't give a damn WHAT you do to him…" Motoko smirked. "My master is the creature that inhabits Wayne." she quickly assumed a battle stance. "…And you aren't worthy of standing in his presence! I'll kill you here and now, Ash Ketchum!"  
"You master's days are numbered, and since you're not going to move, obviously..._**SO ARE YOURS.**_" Ash said, pointing his right hand at Motoko, ready to start was about to turn into the biggest, greatest battle of his entire life…

* * *

(Title) The Shadow of Failure  
(Jingle) 1:55-1:59 of Gundam Wing track "The Man Who Will Make History"

* * *

"And just what do you intend to do, Kamoa boy?" Skulker spoke up. "You are outnumbered fifty-to-one!"  
"What I ALWAYS do…KICK THE SHIT OUT OF EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU!"  
"Besides…" came Yusuke's voice as he, Jenny, Mac, and Bloo stepped up. "Your math sucks more than your cooking, Skulker! There's FIVE of us!" Suddenly, four ghosts were instantly sucked up into Fenton Thermoses, as Danny, Jack, Maddie, and Jazz stood on the steps in front of their door, smirking at the ghost army.  
"Don't forget about us! This is OUR fight too!" Danny interjected. "Now grab some thermoses and let's kick some ghost army ASS!" Jazz then happily tossed several Fenton Thermoses out, which Ash and friends caught. As Ash pulled the lid off of the thermos, he grinned wickedly, sucking several ghosts in at once. The rest wizened up quickly and scattered.  
"Well, that's a wra—" Ash started to say, before he saw a couple of ghosts get completely incinerated in a giant burst of fire. The Spirit Detective gang and the Fentons all looked up at the sky to see Shadow Wayne hovering in midair high above them, grinning evilly.  
"Did Motoko forget to mention that these stones can kill you guys? No? Too bad. Fight or die." he laughed.  
"YOU…" Ash spat out furiously, his mouth open in a hideous snarl as he looked up at the horrible demon.  
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were MAD, Ketchum." Shadow Wayne grinned "You should thank me! Your home town was a HOLE…heh…hole…well, it's DEFINITELY a hole now." He closed his eyes, which may well have been the last mistake he'd ever make, as when he reopened them, Ash was in front of him. Ash roared in absolute rage as he sent Shadow Wayne flying off into the horizon with a mighty punch. Motoko, concerned, ran off after her master. Ash then started off after the shadow, as Yusuke called out to him.  
"Dude, a little help here?!"  
"**YOU CAN HANDLE IT JUST FINE! I'M GONNA FUCKING STOMP THAT SHADOW INTO NEXT WEEK!**" Ash bellowed, immediately taking off after Shadow Wayne.  
"Okay then…?" Danny commented comically, as the remaining ghosts scattered and flew to different parts of the city..  
"Spread out, guys! Let's curb stomp these jackholes!" Yusuke ordered the rest of the group, and they nodded, taking off to find and capture each ghost in the ghost army before much damage was done.  
"Maddie, load up the RV! We're goin' ghost fishing!" Jack shouted.

* * *

Shadow Wayne gritted his teeth and managed to finally gain control of himself, coming to a complete stop. No sooner had he done so, however, than Ash screamed across the sky, drop-kicking him in the chest and sending him through a building. As he came to a very rough landing, he could barely rise to his knees before Ash was upon him again, this time slamming him face-down into the floor. He coughed up some blood as Ash then began to repeat the same groin-stomach kick combo that Riku had executed on him not even an hour ago.  
"YOU LIKE CAUSING PAIN?! DOES IT GET YOU OFF?! HERE'S THE RECEIVING END! _**HOW'S IT FEEL, MOTHERFUCKER?!**_" Ash bellowed as he continued to kick him. He saw the Water Stone in Shadow Wayne's left hand begin to glow, but before it could successfully heal Wayne's body, Ash grabbed him and flung him out of the nearest window. He then leaped out of the window, positioning himself right above Shadow Wayne before drop-kicking the demon with all of his might. Upon hitting the ground, Shadow Wayne made a crater about twenty feet wide. Before he could crawl out of that, though, he was made the victim of a Spirit Gun Double, which caused the crater to widen to about thirty feet. Anyone who had seen the fight going on up to that point was now getting the HELL out of Dodge, so to speak. Ash finally brought out his Rift Sword at this point.  
"I'll kill Wayne by doing this, but YOU'LL DIE TOO." Ash grinned wickedly. "THIS IS FOR MY HOMETOWN, YOU MONSTER!" he then dived toward Shadow Wayne with all of his might, only to be stopped a moment away from victory by Motoko, who drop-kicked him away in a blind fury.  
"If you want my master, you'll have to go through me first!" Motoko shouted, drawing the very sword that had once sealed the demon who now possessed her. Before she could make a move, she was distracted… and subsequently sent flying back, by an attack coming from behind her.  
"And you've got to deal with ME!" cam the voice of Riku, who surprised Ash by looking like he wasn't about to die.  
"Riku!" Ash called out happily.  
"Ratty and Botan made sure I was okay to at least help out here a little bit. I'LL handle Motoko, Ash. You finish that damn demon once and for all!"  
"Right!" Ash nodded, looking down to see that Shadow Wayne was darting away from the site on foot, having been healed by the powers of the Water Stone. "Where the HELL are _YOU_ going?!" he shouted, dropping to the ground and racing after him.

* * *

"Ghost! Ten o' clock!" Jack shouted to the rest of his family as he drove the RV.  
"Got it, Daddy!" Jazz shouted, containing the ghost within the thermos.  
"Hey, Dad?" Danny asked meekly. "…Why haven't you asked me more about why I lied to you and Mom?"  
"I figured you'd tell me when you want to." Jack said, smiling back at his son. "As long as you don't keep it bottled up, anyway."  
"You told him to wait, didn't you?" Danny asked Jazz, as he pointed his thermos out of a side window and contained another ghost.  
"Actually, no I didn't." Jazz replied. "Mom, ghost to your right!"  
"Got it, sweetie!" Maddie grinned, blasting the ghost with the containment beam of the Fenton Thermos she was carrying. "Your father and I came to this decision…we knew you must have felt terrible about it."  
"I did…and I still do. Dad, on your left!"  
"Right-o!" Jack shouted, trapping a ghost of his own. "Danny, you're our son. Ghost or no ghost. I know you're not a bitter old bastard like Vlad."  
"And I'm sorry about Vlad too."  
"Danny, I'd feel sorry for him only if he hadn't tried to steal away your mother."  
"Like I would ever marry that creep." Maddie remarked with an angry pout. "Jack, ghosts at 12 o' clock!"  
"Got it, Maddie!" he affirmed, pressing a button on the dashboard, which caused several compartments to open up on the outside, a thermos appearing from each one and trapping every ghost that had been in their way.  
"When did THIS happen?!" Maddie was stunned, as evidenced by the awe in her voice.  
"Made a few late night modifications! Had to keep my mind off the whole Vlad thing!" Jack smirked as he stared down another line of ghosts. "You punks want some too?!"  
"BRING IT ON, FOOLISH MORTALS!" came the shout of the infamous Box Ghost. "For I, the BOX GHOST, have 'sealed' your doom! Sealed…get it?" he laughed, holding up a cardboard box. "Cause it's a box and…"  
"BUSY!" Danny shouted. "GO THE HELL AWAY RIGHT NOW!"  
"NEVER!" the Box Ghost shouted, only to be sucked into one of the several thermoses that had sprouted from the sides and top of the van.  
"By the way, Jazz…what's up with you and that guy Ash?" Jack asked, looking at his daughter through the mirror.  
"What do you mean?"  
"C'mon, you can tell old Dad. You like him, don't you?"  
"You don't know the half of it, Daddy…" she trailed off, smiling at him.  
"All this time, I never knew he was going out and saving the town!" Maddie said, awestruck.  
"He's something else, all right." Jazz closed her eyes and smiled warmly.  
"So, uh…" Jack started up sheepishly. "Does that mean Jenny's a robot?"  
"Yep." Danny answered simply.  
"And she's from another dimension?" Maddie chimed in.  
"Right again."  
"So there are dimensions aside from ours and the Ghost Zone!"  
"Pretty much."

* * *

Shadow Wayne stood still momentarily in an alley, presumably to either catch his breath or finish healing his injuries. He slowly peeked out of the corner of the alley, only to be sucker-punched in the face by a furious Ash, who then grabbed him by the hair and dragged him out to the middle of the street, where he then planted his knee in the demon's gut.  
"You were running away…you KNOW you can be killed!" Ash said, grinning evilly as he punched the apparition once more in the face. After said apparition fell, Ash continued. "And exactly why the hell did you take over Wayne again if it made you weaker?"  
"Because…I want to cause suffering of ALL kinds, not just physical…"  
"Bullshit. I KNOW why you did it. Or rather, I figured it out. You NEED a host. You don't have enough energy to contain yourself in a non-living body!"  
"Congratulations. You want a fucking medal, Ketchum? Of course, I DO have the energy now to transfer into my own body. It's just a matter of me absorbing these stones into my body!" he laughed.  
"Like I'm gonna let that happen! Prepare for suffering you've never even IMAGINED!" he shouted, charging ferociously at the evil demon…

* * *

Meanwhile, Riku had just grounded Motoko with a Fist of the Mortal Flame. She grunted and rolled away, just barely dodging an encore performance.  
"You're strong, even as close to death as you are." Motoko admitted reluctantly. "No wonder you were the master's right hand man before you betrayed him."  
"You're no pushover either," Riku said. "You've given Ash and his friends a continuous run for their money."  
"Come, let's end this already. We both know that I will walk away the victor." Motoko laughed.  
"On the contrary…I have a promise to keep the people of Hinata Hot Springs." Riku countered. "I promised them I'd bring back the girl you inhabit."  
"You'll have to bring her back DEAD, because I have no intention of deserting this body! HAVE AT YOU, RIKU!" she shouted charging at Riku and catching him off guard, knocking him through the gates of the city zoo.  
"Son of a…" Riku muttered, as Motoko punched him square in the nose.  
"The master WILL win this war!"  
"Like HELL he will!" Riku countered angrily, grabbing Motoko by the feet and dragging her to the ground. As she landed with a thud, Riku back flipped to his feet.  
"Your plan's falling apart around you, thanks to a bunch of teenagers, a half-dead guy, an oblivious idiot, and a total MILF. And your master will be dead by the end of the day. Sucks to be you guys." He smirked.  
"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO WILL BE DEAD!" Motoko roared, losing all composure as she attacked Riku with a previously-unmatched ferocity, forcing Riku to be on his guard completely, with no time even to counterattack as she backed him up toward the nearest pit. Riku looked around, growing somewhat desperate for anything to use to stave off Motoko's onslaught…

* * *

Shadow Wayne next found himself being flung through another building, as Ash spiraled toward him furiously, an ugly snarl on his face as he plowed into the demonic entity, crashing into a multi-level parking garage. As soon as the demon had landed, Ash made sure to land six feet away and start swinging his Soul Sword like a madman. He slammed the blunt end of the blade up against Shadow Wayne's chest. As it hit, the blade made a sickening thwack sound. Ash then forced him against the nearest wall.  
"You son of a…" Shadow Wayne gasped out.  
"Oh no, YOU stay quiet. You don't get to talk until AFTER I'm done RIPPING YOU THE FUCK APART!" Ash roared, planting another knee into Shadow Wayne's gut. Had he not been pinned to the wall by Ash's sword, he'd have dropped over in that instant. But Ash had other plans for him entirely, as he eased up on the sword-pin only for the sake of repeatedly and violently headbutting him, causing blood to start to drip from his head. "I was WONDERING how long it'd take you to bleed!" Ash smirked, before resuming his violent onslaught. As he continued to headbutt, the wall behind them gradually gave way, until they were both hurtling toward the ground. In midair, Ash grabbed Shadow Wayne and hurled him a mile into the air. He darted after him as fast as his wings would take him, but was horrified when Shadow Wayne extended his right arm, shooting a massive burst of fire. Ash raised his arms to block, but was caught in the flare, sending him back down to solid ground while screaming in agony at the major burns he'd just received. As Ash hit the ground, actually bouncing, he knew he was lucky to be alive from that and made a mental note to not be caught in the Fire Stone's range ever again. He let out a gasp as he got to his feet. Shadow Wayne, meanwhile, had regained control of his body and now flew over Ash, grinning devilishly.  
"I thought you were going to tear me apart, Ketchum! Are you too much of a pussy to follow through on your promises?!" he taunted, earning another hideous snarl from Ash, who gave him a long, hard death glare from the ground, then roared angrily and took off at breakneck speed toward him.  
"**I'LL WASTE YOU, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!**" Ash closed the distance between the two of them instantly, or at least, it seemed that way to the stunned demon, who now found himself on the receiving end of a volley of punches and kicks that seemed to shut down his defenses completely. Ash took this opportunity to ground him with a well placed kick to his head. As Shadow Wayne hit the ground, another crater was formed, this time about fifty feet in diameter, and twelve feet deep. Ash looked down anxiously.  
"Did that do it?!" he said to no one in particular, then winced once more at the pain he felt from his burns. "…It better have…" He slowly lowered to the ground, panting heavily as he touched down. He looked into the crater, seeing Shadow Wayne lying there, a horrified expression on the demon's face as he laid there, completely unmoving.  
"It's over…" he finally sighed. dropping to his knees. He knew he had won, and yet, his heart felt heavy.  
"Wayne…" he breathed out in a whisper, realizing why he felt sad at this victory. In the time they'd spent together fighting for justice, Ash had come to view him as a comrade, perhaps even, a friend. He looked down at what he had just done with an expression of grief-stricken horror, and then he began to cry…

* * *

"…!" Motoko stopped halfway through her charge, giving Riku enough time to drop to the ground and use his feet to propel her over the edge of the pit above which they were duking it out. She let out a yelp as she fell onto something harder than the dirt lining the floor of the makeshift pit. Riku had a shocked look on his face as he realized what had distracted her.  
"Ash won…seems like your master isn't a god after all."  
"YOU BASTARDS! I WON'T STOP UNTIL EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU IS DEAD!" Motoko bellowed, before she felt movement under her. She looked down and noticed the giant Galapagos turtle that she was standing on. Her next action surprised Riku tremendously, for she had started to scream. Instead of the demon's raspy voice, however, the voice belonged to the REAL Motoko.  
"…The real Motoko? But w—" he cut himself off, a realization hitting him as he looked at the turtle. He grinned slyly. "She's afraid of turtles…"  
"GET ME OFF OF THIS THING, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!"  
"Excuse me for a second…" Riku walked off, away from Motoko's view. Minutes later, he came back, holding several turtles. He looked down on her. "I guess FEAR trumps demonic possession, bitch." Riku laughed at the demon, throwing each turtle at her with a cry of "Sorry!" to each turtle thrown. After a few, Motoko went completely blue in the face before thrashing around violently, her eyes enormously wide as she went into violent retching spasms. It was Riku's turn to be wide-eyed as Motoko started to vomit up the same black stuff that, a month ago, Wayne had also been vomiting up, However, unlike Wayne's demon goo, this instantly began to reform into a tall female humanoid. The demoness had soot-black hair, falling all the way down to her waist. She had red skin, in the cartoony devil sense, and was a literal four-eyed freak, each of those eyes being pupil-less and yellow. Her bat like wings unfurled from behind her. As Motoko gazed upon the thing that once possessed her, her beating had become too much to bear, and she passed out from the injuries she had sustained from her battle with Riku.  
"My true form has been exposed…!" the demoness snarled.  
"And your master has been slain." Riku smirked triumphantly. "You're next, by the way."  
"NEVER!" it roared, quickly punching Riku in the face. Riku surprised it, however, by immediately recovering and stabbing it through the stomach. It gasped, immediately feeling its life energy draining away. "N…no…!"  
"Yes. Since you care so much about your precious master, you can join him in death." Riku said, pulling out his sword, jumping back, and immediately launching into his Sword of the Mortal Flame sequence. The demon could barely move, let alone do anything worth an action of trying to stop its inevitable death.  
"Since you AREN'T a ghost, I can kill you just as easily as any human." Riku said, before launching his Sword of the Mortal Flame with a shout of "Farewell, nameless, pitiless entity!" The blast consumed it fully, the demon letting out a final scream as it melted away into nothingness, and as it faded away for eternity, Riku dropped to his knees, the fight having taken its toll on him. He knew in the next few minutes he would have to remove the now-freed Motoko Aoyama from the pit of turtles before she'd wake up and possibly have a coronary from being in the presence of so many amphibious creatures…

* * *

"I never meant for this to happen, Wayne...forgive me…" Ash said, his voice cracking as he stared at the end result of his rampage: the corpse of Wayne Williams that lay in the crater he had just formed. He bowed his head, before being alerted to the presence of Aimee, with her scream of "What have you done, Ash?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" she said, breaking down into tears as she ran up to Ash and started pounding on his chest relentlessly. Ash did nothing to stop her from hitting him, just kneeling there and feeling empty. All of a sudden, the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle rolled up by the crater, each of the Fentons filing out and looking on in absolute horror. Jazz even went so far as to cover her mouth with her hands with a whisper of "Oh dear God…"  
"What…what happened here?" Danny looked stunned.  
"He did what he had to do…" came another voice, this one belonging to Janine. She walked forward, staring sadly down into the crater, before walking over and putting a hand on Aimee. "Stop it, Aimee…he did what he had to do." she repeated.  
"How can you be calm?!" Aimee shouted tearfully. "HE KILLED YOUR LITTLE BROTHER!"  
"And saved all of US from fiery death at the hands of the demon repossessing him!" Janine affirmed. "From what I heard from Ash's friends…Wayne wasn't even REMOTELY present within that shell anymore! He was…he was dead before Ash even fought him today." Janine sighed, looking back at her brother.  
"It doesn't matter…" Ash suddenly spoke up, looking up at Janine. "I killed a friend. I can never take that back!"  
"Oh please…" came a voice which caused all of them to widen their eyes, even going so far as to cause Jazz to scream in horror. Ash stared grimly at the crater, seeing Shadow Wayne rise out of it with a wicked grin on his face as he raised the Fire Stone above his head. "You were never friends. You respected him, and likewise, but neither of you really hung out or acted like friends…but I guess I do owe a bit of respect to this meatbag…the relationships he's formed over the past month have given me a LOT of fresh meat!"  
"!" Ash's eyes widened, and he immediately got to his feet. "I'm the one you want! They've got nothing to do with this!"  
"Oh, but they do, Ash…in the sense that they still live!" Shadow Wayne grinned fiendishly down on his potential prey as he continued to rise into the air. Too bad, really…you were SO close…but you never WANTED to kill Wayne. You stopped when you thought you had. You should have destroyed the body to make sure…"  
"…" Ash looked down.  
"Wayne, please! Listen to reason!" Aimee shouted at her boyfriend, or rather, his body, as Wayne no longer seemed to be in there...

* * *

"Uhh…" Motoko sighed, as she regained consciousness, looking up at Riku, who was still breathing heavily, resting from the battle. "You… who are you?"  
"Consider me a friend. I made a promise to Keitaro Urashima to make sure you made it back alive." Riku smiled down at her.  
"I'…I've done horrible things…haven't I?" Motoko looked down.  
"No one can fault you for something you couldn't control…I only wish I had told Wayne that when he was still alive..."  
"…Wayne Williams is dead?" Motoko looked shocked.  
"Ash killed him minutes ago…he's possessed. Just like you were."  
"I didn't know…." Motoko responded, finally standing up.  
"You wouldn't…you've been under demonic possession for the past six months."  
"Where are we?" Motoko seemed to be unaware of the fact Riku had just stated.  
"Amity Park. This is where the Spirit Stone was. Shadow Wayne got hold of it, and…well, Ash killed him in a blind rage after his hometown was destroyed."  
"…Has it really been six months? It seems like only yesterday when I touched Hinata, the Ominous Blade…"  
"It has. Many things have happened since th-!" Riku cut, his eyes widening tremendously as he noticed that smoke was billowing up into the sky only a few blocks away. "What the…only the Fire Stone could have caused this THAT fast! Talk later, I need to get to that burning building!"

* * *

"JESUS CHRIST!" Ash shouted. There's gotta be at least TEN of these buildings on fire!" He looked around in horror, as Shadow Wayne laughed maniacally, taking a position on the ground once more.  
"We have to try to put them out!" Danny looked around frantically.  
"You scout each building for people to save, Danny!" Ash ordered, human emotion overtaking logic in this scenario. "We have to keep losses to a minimum!"  
"Oh, I don't think so...that's BLUE fire, boys...anyone caught in that is ALREADY dead!" Shadow Wayne cackled.  
"Wait...isn't this where Valerie lives?!" Jazz looked horrified. That very look appeared on Danny's face as well, as he flew off toward her apartment. Ash started to follow, but was stopped by the most surprisingly horrible sound he could have heard... a hideous, disgusting slurping noise... He realized in horror what had just happened...  
"NO...!" Ash turned around, confirming his fears by taking note of the demon's empty hands.  
"He...ate the stones!" Jazz gasped out.  
"He he he... HAHAHAHAHAHA! I WIN! I WIN!" he roared in triumph, as black smoke started oozing up from Wayne's collar, Wayne's own expression slowly changing from giddiness to confusion as the smoke formed a perfect circle, and then began to mutate. His hands and feet formed, and slowly, his new body was revealed...to be an EXACT duplicate of Wayne's, sans the eyes, which were ruby red and lacked any pupils. As he finished transforming, he stood there, smirking evilly down at Ash. "Well...what do you think?"  
"You're nothing but a damn parasite..." Ash scowled up at the shadow.  
"Think what you want, fool...you're nothing but a time magic-wielding WORM. And now, I, God, will take my place by finding the way to Balance!" he laughed, flying off toward FentonWorks triumphantly, leaving the group standing there in dawning horror of what was happening. At that moment, Danny rejoined the group, an unconscious Valerie in his arms.  
"Is she alive?" Ash asked, panic evident in his voice.  
"Yeah."  
"And her dad?" Danny closed his eyes and solemnly shook his head.  
"Oh god..." Ash looked down, grief-stricken.  
"She was the only person left alive in that building." Danny added, his voice cracking. "What the HELL good were we, Ash?! Maybe Shadow Wayne IS God!"  
"No...no god does THIS." Ash said, looking at the tragedy around them as they each began to contribute to putting out the fire. As they did this, Wayne slowly woke up, as if in a deep sleep. He looked around and his eyes widened. He teared up at the sight of the burning buildings, and the bodies that were slowly being pulled out from said buildings by Ash and Danny. He stared on in horror as he could no longer contain his tears. He alerted his girlfriend and his sister to his presence with the words that came out of his mouth at that point...  
"Dear god..." he trailed off, his voice breaking. "What have I done...?! What have I **DONE**?!"


	44. Return to Pallet Town

PokeWing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 44: Return to Pallet Town  
A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

* * *

Later that very day, Ash sat on his couch, wordlessly grieving for those whose lives had been lost in Shadow Wayne's distraction. He punched the floor as hard as he could in absolute rage.  
"DAMMIT! DAMMIT ALL TO HELL-!" Ash shouted at the top of his lungs, tears dripping to the floor as he stared down with a snarl at the floorboard he'd just completely broken apart. "Damn..." he muttered, a lot more silently than the last thing he'd said aloud.

* * *

Valerie sat in a hospital bed as Danny inaudibly informed her of her father's death. Inaudibly, she broke down into a sobbing mess, assumedly voicing her denial of the situation over and over again as her lips moved. Danny looked down at her sadly, knowing that the madness had yet to stop, and may end up consuming them all...

* * *

(Title) Return to Pallet Town  
(Jingle) 0:32-0:42 of Death Note track "Chichi no Shi"

* * *

"This is Lance Thunder, reporting the biggest tragedy ever in the history of Amity Park. Earlier today, ten buildings in the metropolitan area caught fire. Out of the two-hundred and fifty people living in these buildings, only three survived... we'll bring you more of the coverage as it unfolds." came the voice of Lance Thunder from the television, as Riku laid in his own hospital bed, Motoko by his side.  
"This is horrible..." Motoko trailed off, as she pressed the power button on the TV remote, powering off the set.  
"An ally of Ash's lost her father today. From what Yusuke told me, he's been beside himself with grief."  
"So why are you here and not out there?"  
"Uh...I'm near-death. Despite appearances, I barely survived the fight with that demon..." Riku said.  
"You really gave it your all out there, didn't you? Without your assistance, I'd still be helping Shadow Wayne commit these horrible atrocities. Thank you, Riku..." Motoko smiled.  
"All in a day's work." Riku returned the smile as Osaka ran in, throwing her arms around her husband tightly.  
"Ouch...hey dear, good to see you too." Riku muttered.  
"You were INCREDIBLE! Enma had it set up so I could see everything you were doing!"  
"Indeed you were." Enma chimed in, as he walked into the room. "How are you feeling?"  
"Like shit. What did you expect?"  
"Who's that?" Motoko pointed her thumb back at Enma.  
"That's my boss." Riku explained. "And as you might have guessed...Ayumu here is my wife."  
Enma looked down at Motoko quickly, then back at Riku. "So, how's it feel to be a positive influence on the universe?"  
"...Huh?"  
"You saved Motoko here without killing her. And speaking of...it's about time you got back to Hinata Hot Springs, Miss Aoyama."  
"Huh...? Oh, yes...actually..." Motoko trailed off, looking down. "I want to stay. I want to see this thing through to the end with Shadow Wayne."  
"But you weren't involved until he dragged you in..." Enma tried to explain.  
"Even so...I feel like THIS is where I belong right now. So no, aside from doing what I need to do to help Ash Ketchum bring Shadow Wayne to justice, I'm not going anywhere just yet!" Motoko affirmed, standing up and clenching her right hand into a determined fist.  
"...You might be needed, now that I think about it. Has anyone seen Wayne since the fight this morning?"  
"...I think he doesn't want to see anybody, Enma. I assume he's feeling remorse for all two hundred and forty-seven lives lost in that distraction."  
"I'm sure he does. And he should." Enma said coldly, shocking both Riku and Osaka. "He deserves it for allowing that demon to take control of him once more."  
"Jesus, Enma...the guy just helped us GET THE SPIRIT STONE." Enma growled.  
"And then submitted his will to that...MONSTER...so the latter could get ahold of the very thing we were trying to prevent him from EVER getting ahold of!" Enma shouted in response. "He ASKED to be repossessed, Riku!" Riku's response was to look down and let out a monosyllabic chuckle. After a second, he shakily climbed out of his hospital bed and walked over to Enma. Letting out another chuckle, he then proceeded to shock/horrify everyone in the room with his next action. He sent Enma to the floor with a hard right hook. Enma let out a loud groan as he hit the ground, rubbing his cheek a few seconds later as he slowly picked himself up off of the ground. Riku looked down in shock at his right hand. "Enma...I—" Enma held up a hand quickly to silence him.  
"...What you did...was justified. Forgive me." Enma looked down. "Everything has gone to hell. We have ONE chance at salvation now, and he's too grief-stricken to function like we are now." He let out a sigh, walking over to the window and peering through the blinds at the nearby burned buildings. Suddenly, Enma's wrist communicator began to beep. He walked away from the three and answered, silently carrying on a conversation with whoever was on the other end for the next minute. Afterward, he pushed a button on the communicator, ending the call. He turned to Riku, pale-faced. "The Dimensional Elevator is shining..."  
"That's a good thing, right? I mean, doesn't it mean the world's going to be saved?"  
"No..." Enma trailed off, eyes wide. "That prophecy wasn't telling the salvation of the world. It was predicting its end."  
"WHAT?!" the three adults could not believe what they had just heard.  
"But...but the prophecy said the way to balance would be revealed when the Elevator shined..." Riku said, still in shock.  
"It IS being revealed. Balance isn't a state of order in this case. It's a dimension. To be more specific, it's the dimension from which ALL life sprang forth." Enma explained.  
"So why would going there be a bad thing...?"  
"..." Enma looked at Riku for a minute, before answering vaguely. "There's something there that would end all life in the Dimensional Universe. I can't say what it is, but trust me...it's BAD." He looked away from Riku, earning a look of confusion from his employee.  
"Well...at least you didn't lie about it this time..." Riku trailed off, walking over to the window and looking out of it. "Do we have any options left, Enma?"  
"Only one...Ash." Just then, Enma's wrist communicator beeped again, he answered, and after a few minutes, he turned to Riku. "Rest time's over. The demon's back in Pallet Town now. He's going to summon the Core Dimension."

* * *

Ash walked over and answered the door, surprised to see Misty standing there once more, a sad smile on her face.  
"...I saw what you did." Misty spoke up after a few minutes of silence.  
"I let two hundred and forty seven people die, Misty..."  
"No...you saved three...potentially more than that, because Shadow Wayne fled." Misty lightly hugged Ash. "This Jazz is a very lucky girl."  
"You're not mad?"  
"...I didn't say that. But I know how I feel about you...and I want YOU to be happy, Ash, even if it's without me..."  
"Heh..." Ash laughed. "Jazz said the same thing in the future when I told her I wasn't going to leave you."  
"Ash...I think I'd like to meet this girl."  
"Why? Is there gonna be some sort of catfight I should stay the hell out of?" Ash looked confused.  
"No! GOD no. I want to meet her. I want to see this girl that caused you to pull a total miracle..."  
"I know you think I love her, and you're right...but...I love you too." Ash said, looking away sadly from Misty, She smiled and closed the distance between them with a passionate kiss, which Ash returned as he picked her up in his arms, bridal-style, carefully shutting the door...

* * *

"Come on, you have to eat something!" Janine pleaded, looking down at her brother, who had said nothing past his outburst earlier, instead opting to lie in his bed and smoke, staring at the ceiling. Wayne remained silent, aside from the sounds of him inhaling and exhaling cigarette smoke. "Wayne..." she sighed, looking at her brother with pity. "You were trying to protect Aimee and I...I can't fault you for that. I would have done the same thing to protect you and Ash..." she smiled down at him weakly.  
"That's not the point...I played RIGHT INTO that demon's hands...I gave him the Spirit Stone. The way I see it...all I did was just speed up the destruction of all life..."  
"You got it BACK!" Janine protested. "If you hadn't done that..."  
"IT DOESN'T MATTER! HE HAS IT NOW, JANINE! HE'S GOING TO END ALL OF US IN A HORRIBLE SEA OF FIERY DEATH! "AND I HELPED HIM DO THAT!" Suddenly, his front door slammed, and there stood Yusuke, Jenny, Mac, and Bloo.  
"Boo FUCKING hoo." Jenny said. "Cry me a river. You can sit there and whine about it, or help us KILL him!"

"Come on, Wayne!" Mac said. "Fight with us and put a stop to him once and for all!"  
"Ash COULD have ended this by killing m—"  
"Yeah, well he DIDN'T! Maybe he thought your USELESS ASS was worth saving!" Jenny yelled angrily. "So prove him right! Get the HELL out of that bed! We're going to Pallet Town, with or without you! This is your final chance to prove you're not the horrible monster I originally believed you to be!" Wayne looked away from Jenny for a few seconds, prompting her to continue. "This... this is our final chance. If we fail this time, then everything DIES. I don't want you to regret doing nothing to stop this." After a few seconds of shared silence between the group of acquaintances, Wayne surprised Jenny by belting out a hearty belly laugh.  
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you actually GAVE A CRAP about me!" Wayne continued to laugh, causing Jenny to chuckle monosyllabically.  
"Of COURSE I do! You're one of us now...but...DON'T expect any pity parties from me just cause I don't think you're a complete TOAD now." Jenny smirked.  
"You're right...this isn't the time to be feeling sorry for myself!" Wayne returned the smirk. "But why are we going to Pallet Town?!"  
"That's where your shadow went!" Yusuke butted in. "The Stone Locator picked up on two stones heading into Pallet Town. We're gonna go back there and WHIP THE SHIT OUTTA THAT FREAK!"  
"...YEAH!" Bloo chimed in, in an attempt to sound macho, which simply caused all present to laugh. Just then, Aimee walked in, noticing Wayne climbing out of the bed and grabbing a large bite of the sandwich Janine had fixed for him.

"Wayne!" she exclaimed happily. He turned around, walked over to her, and put his arms around her.

"Aimee... I have to go now. They need me." his smirk vanished. "This may be the last time I ever see you... so I just want to say I l-"

"Don't say anything." she smiled knowingly. "Just say it when you get back, dork." Wayne's eyes eyes seemed to reflect sadness as he glanced down at the older pink-haired woman. he wrapped his arms around her tightly, pulling her close to him. "Y... yeah... I'll be back. I promise."

"I know. ...Now go. Go be a hero, Wayne." her eyes narrowed as she grinned up at her boyfriend. He let go of her and joined Jenny, Yusuke, Mac, and Bloo as they ran out of the door. Janine followed seconds later...

* * *

"This had BETTER be important, Enma..." Ash answered, gritting his teeth as he turned on the wrist communicator.  
"Ash, you need to get to-OH MY GOD WHY ARE YOU NAKED?!" Enma shouted, shutting his eyes immediately. "PUT ON SOME DAMN CLOTHES AND GET OVER TO FENTONWORKS!"  
"Uh...why did you assume I was naked? I might have just been changing my shirt, for all you know."  
"...Were you?" Enma asked, a flat tone to his voice.  
"Uh...actually, I AM naked."  
"OH FUCK I KNEW IT." Enma facepalmed with his free hand. "Just...get dressed and get over here. It's time to return to Pallet Town! We're going to save the world! Enma out." he then vanished from the communicator screen, which went blank and resumed its normal watch-like appearance.  
"So..." Misty trailed off, laying next to him in his bed, the blanket being the only thing protecting her modesty... "That sword you have...where is it now?"  
"It's hard to explain...it's actually a part of me, if I'm to understand correctly." Ash explained. "At least, now that it's chosen me...that's why it's no longer stuck to my right hand. Anyway...it's time for us to go back, FINALLY."  
"Then let's head over to this FentonWorks place...I still haven't seen the inside of it yet." Misty said, shrugging as she climbed out of the bed and began to dress herself.  
"Misty?" Ash asked, looking up at her. "Does us, uh, you know... doing what we just did mean things are okay between us?"  
"...Let's focus on getting you back to Pallet Town right now. We have the rest of our lives afterward to discuss what'll happen." Misty smiled at him as he mimicked her actions. The two kissed quickly, then walked out of the door.

* * *

"...It's time for me to go. Is there anything you need before I head out?" Danny asked, placing a hand on Valerie's shoulder.  
"...No."  
"Well then..." Danny started to turn around, but Valerie grabbed him by the arm, causing him to do another one-eighty and face Valerie.  
"Wait...I've been wrong about you all of this time...I thought you were a menace. You were just trying to protect me when Pariah Dark attacked, right?"  
"Yeah. But don't start liking me just yet. If it hadn't been for me, you and your dad'd still be living the high life." Valerie managed a weak smile, shaking her head.  
"No...I get it now. Trouble follows you around because you're the only one who can really make a difference. I'm not quitting the ghost hunting business, of course...but...I don't hate you anymore, Danny Phantom..." she trailing off, her weary smile changing to a weary smirk. "...Or should I say Danny Fenton?"  
"...Heh..." Danny chuckled monosyllabically. "What makes you think I'm Danny Fenton?"  
"...It's just what I want to believe. You are...aren't you?" Valerie said, a glimmer of excitement in her eyes.  
"...Yeah. It's me, Valerie." Danny smiled at her. "I have to go now..."  
"Just one second..." Valerie trailed off, sitting up shakily.  
"Don't strain yourself just y—" he cut off, eyes wide, as she had draped her arms around him and silenced him with a passionate kiss. As she broke it off, Danny smiled, blushing slightly. "...WOW." he moaned happily.  
"Go get that son of a bitch for me, 'kay?" she smiled.  
"Yes MA'AM!" Danny saluted excitedly, turning around once again, then turning his head back. "So, uh...does this mean we're...you know...dating? Cause, I mean, I'd TOTALLY be down with that."  
"What do YOU think, hero? Now hurry up and go help Ash save the world! When you get back, there's more of this waiting for you."  
"..." Danny smirked, turning around yet again and walking over to Valerie, gently embracing her and, holding onto the back of her head, kissing her again.  
"Go get 'em, tiger." Valerie said, her eyes narrowing in satisfaction.  
"What am I now, Spider-Man?" Danny shrugged, going intangible and flying through the ceiling.

* * *

"Okay, everything's ready!" Jack piped up, as Ash and Misty arrived, joining Enma, Riku, Osaka, and Motoko, as well as Yusuke, Jenny, Mac, Bloo, Janine, and Wayne, the last of which smirked at Ash.  
"Ready to go home, Momma's Boy?"  
"Better pull your weight, dick hole." Ash countered, returning the smirk.  
"If we could stop with the sissy name calling, I'd like to bring up that Danny is NOT here yet." Enma sighed.  
"Oh yes he is!" Danny called out as he phased through the ceiling."I'm ready to get this over with."  
"Well then, I believe that's everyone who's go—" Enma started to say, but was cut off by the entrance of Jazz, Timmy, and Jimmy, the middle of which was holding Cosmo and Wanda, in balloon form.  
"We're going too." Jimmy stated slowly. "I owe the lot of you for advancing my research into alternative energy resources by letting me study the Spirit Stone."  
"And I want to be there with Misty to support Ash." Jazz chimed in.  
"And I want to go there because...screw it, I'm bored." Timmy's eyes narrowed in boredom.  
"I can't stop the runts since Timmy'd just magic himself there and Jimmy'd build some sort of device that'd actually rape the laws of space and time...but Jazz...you should stay here." Ash spoke up.  
"The man knows me too well..." Jimmy chuckled.  
"I'm with Ash, Jazzypants. That shadow thing's bad news." Jack interjected, causing Jazz to turn to her father.  
"But you're letting Danny go!"  
"Because he can fight." Ash responded flatly. "There are few people I'd trust more to back my ass up in a fight with a world-destroying entity holding two all-powerful stones."  
"Wow...thanks man." Danny smiled and gave a thumbs up to Ash.  
"I won't get in your way!" Jazz protested, as Ash turned around. "I want to see your hometown!"  
"You mean what's left of it? Shadow Wayne wasted quite a few buildings there..." Ash trailed off, looking down.  
"...LET'S take her." Misty suddenly spoke up, shocking Ash.  
"What?!"  
"You're worried she'll get hurt, right? There may still be ghosts around here who aren't aware that Wayne and Motoko are no longer leading them in an effort against the city She's in danger either way. If you're so worried, Ash...I'LL protect her." Misty finished, a determined look on her face.  
"Really?" Jazz looked amazed. "You DO realize I have designs on your boyfriend, right?"  
"I know you care for him, Jazz. I know you feel the exact same way I do toward him, but I've decided not to let whatever he decides make me hate him OR you. I think we could be...friends." Misty smiled.  
"Yeah...if he chooses you, I won't hate you either, and I told him that as well." Jazz returned the smile. "I'm going with them, Dad."  
"Princess, I trust Danny with his power, but..."  
"Then trust my intuition on this, Daddy...I WANT to be there. For Ash."  
"It's not up for debate." Ash said sternly. "You stay here, Jazz."  
"But why...?!"  
"You know those burned buildings with all the people who DIED in them? That was Shadow Wayne FLEXING. He wasn't even trying when he burned those buildings." Ash's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Had he REALLY wanted to fuck everything up, he would have set the ENTIRE TOWN on fire. Granted, that'll be coming if he wins."  
"..." Jazz looked away sadly.  
"I don't want him using you against me." Ash spoke up again, sincerity in his voice. "I don't want him to do that with Misty either, but Misty can fight."  
"I can fi—"  
"Not with the kind of firepower we're gonna need to take this bastard out." Ash immediately interjected.  
"..." Jazz remained silent here.  
"Just let her come with us, Ash." Misty piped up again. "Mr. Fenton...I promise I'll protect her."  
"Let her go, Jack." came Maddie's voice as she walked down the stairs.  
"Maddie, what are ya saying?! That THING can destroy an entire CITY!" Jack argued with his wife.  
"It's a feeling I have...that there IS something that Jazz can do for them. I don't know how else to describe it, but...I feel like she NEEDS to go as well, for the sake of our future." Maddie smiled over at her daughter, then looked at Misty. "You...Misty, right?"  
"Correct." Misty affirmed.  
"Take care of her. We'll be waiting here for all of you to come back." Maddie said.  
"...All right." Ash said. "Let's hurry up and put an end to this."  
"Finally! We're going HOME!" Janine cheered as the portal opened.

* * *

("Teyandee Special Express" by Ami Itabashi)

*Special Express Time*

"LET'S GO, GUYS!" Ash shouted, as he led the charge into the Ghost Zone, everyone but Jack and Maddie following him in.

*Harukaseigiwomezaseba  
Honoo no RUUTO tokiwokakeruyo*

"They're going to be okay, right? Did I do the right thing by letting Jazz go with them?" Maddie asked, as Jack hugged her close.  
"She'll be alright..." Jack said, though he didn't sound too sure himself. "She'll be alright." he repeated, staring at the swirling vortex that had just appeared to swallow the entire group. Danny will be alright too."  
"I'm so proud of our children, Jack." Maddie beamed.  
"I am too, baby…I am too."

*Kimi no egaomamoritakute  
Tatakai no SUROPU koete  
Kyomoyukuyo*

"So what is this Core Dimension?" Riku asked Enma as the entire group raced forward along the winding strip toward a large blue rift.  
"It's a manmade dimension full of Nightmares. It was created as a horrible sort of halfway point to the Balance Dimension." Enma explained, his eyes narrowing in determination before continuing. "The dimension is a complete perversion of the laws of all dimensions outside of the Balance Dimension, for it exists within EVERY dimension."  
"So basically it's an evil abomination and it's fair game to trash it all to hell?" Ash shouted back as they arrived at the rift.  
"EXACTLY."Enma said. "Destroy him and the dimension. I should have done that myself fifty years ago…"  
"Enma…?"

* Moe agaru BORUTEJI wa  
SUTANDO BAI, OK!*

"Let's go inside already!" Misty chimed in, as they walked into the giant blue rift, which vanished as soon as they entered into the Dimensional Elevator. The door closed behind them with an audible thud. Most present let out a gasp as they saw that the Dimensional Elevator was indeed shining.  
"Just as Ratty reported…" Enma looked down for a second, then spoke up again. "We're going to keep this from being significant! We'll stop Shadow Wayne and save the universe!"

*Hold on hold on teyandee Special express time  
OsawagaseNyanki o-de-ma-shi  
Iza Hold on hold on teyandee Special express time  
Omakasekazemakaseizayuke*

Ash glanced around the Dimensional Elevator at each of the other seven doors. He took note that Pallet Town's door was wide open.  
"So he HAS gone back there…"  
"We're wasting time here!" Wayne griped "Let's get back to Pallet Town!" Ash's immediate response was to walk over to the door and peer into the rift, ultimately getting drawn in. As he fell into the rift, the remaining detectives looked at each other, nodded, and jumped in.

* * *

As the gang stepped out of the rift, those who had been unaware of the goings-on gasped at the destruction. Ash looked down, tightly clenching his fists.  
"He'll PAY for this." he growled.  
"So why don't you MAKE me pay?!" a voice boomed, shocking them all, as they looked up to see Shadow Wayne looming over the lot of them.  
"YOU!" Ash shouted, looking enraged as the Rift Sword appeared in his outstretched right hand.  
"I figured you BUGS would show up sooner or later. I'd better take care of YOU right now!" Shadow Wayne laughed, forming a fireball in his right hand.  
"**SCATTER!**" Ash shouted, and the others obeyed quickly as Shadow Wayne launched the fireball, with Ash holding up his sword and blocking it as best he could. He could feel the immense heat of the fireball brushing against his hands, and he groaned in pain as he finally deflected the attack back at Shadow Wayne, who dodged it effortlessly and appeared suddenly beside Ash, making a sickening thud as he kicked Ash in the throat, which sent the Kamoa teenager flying back into the nearest building: Professor Oak's laboratory, or rather, the rubble that was once the eastern wing. As Ash landed, he had a horrified expression on his face. Misty and Jazz ran over to him and noticed, to their horror, that he wasn't moving.  
"Ash! ASH, GET UP!" Misty cried out in horror, shaking Ash hard.  
"That was PATHETIC…if he's alive, tell him I'll see him in the Core Dimension to end this!" Shadow Wayne laughed, as a large floating continent, covered in withered trees and a heavy purple-and-black fog, appeared in the sky above them. "My destiny awaits! See you soon in PERSON…Enma." He grinned wickedly again as he floated up toward the giant continent.  
"_**GET BACK HERE!**_" Wayne roared after his former "puppeteer". He gave chase, only to crash into what appeared to be a very translucent barrier, its appearance having been hidden until Wayne drew near. "DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU TO HELL!" he shouted, punching the barrier as hard as he could.  
"This is VERY, VERY bad already. HANG ON, ASH!" Enma shouted. "DON'T DIE ON US YET!" he then turned on his communicator. "RATTY, BOTAN, GET TO PALLET TOWN IMMEDIATELY!"

* * *

Hours later, night was befalling the town of Pallet, as Ash slowly came to within one of the spare cots in Professor Oak's lab. Jazz took note that he was awake with extreme glee.  
"Ash! You're alive!"  
"What…what ha—" he cut himself off. "SHADOW WAYNE…" he snarled. "Son of a bitch…he wasn't running away, he was just PLAYING AROUND."  
"Dumbass…" Ratty trailed off, alerting Ash to his presence with his weary voice. "You gotta stop playin' around with the Reaper, no matter how FINE that ass is."  
"HEY!" Botan shouted, hitting Ratty with her oar as if he were no more than a baseball, and sure enough, he was sent sailing into the next room from the impact.  
"OH FUCKING SNAP-!" he cried, his voice fading as he fell out of earshot for the three.

* * *

"So…this…Shadow Wayne…he wants to destroy everything?" came the voice of Ash's longtime friend Brock, as he sat in the chair closest to Ash's room.  
"He did this to Pallet Town." Misty explained. "Weren't you here?"  
"I didn't get back from Pewter City until a bit earlier today. I couldn't believe that all this had happened to Pallet Town…how's Ash holding up?"  
"It's Jazz's turn to watch him while I discuss strategy with Ash's boss." Misty explained.  
"I can't believe Ash has been doing this stuff for so long without telling us…" Brock trailed off. "What happens if he loses this fight, Misty?"  
"…We all die. There's only one thing to do, then…each of us who are fighting must be ready to lay down our lives to make sure he makes it out okay…"

* * *

"That's about the size of what's going on." Enma explained to Delia, who looked like she was about to cry. "I know you don't want him out there doing this work...that's why his father had the two of you flee..."  
"Why couldn't he take care of this, Enma?!"  
"He's dead, that's why. I know he'd rather not have Ash in his position as the Guardian of Time, but that...THING made sure that Ash HAD to step in."  
"And what happens if Ash kills that demon, Enma? What'll happen when something even deadlier comes along?! I agreed to flee from the Kamoa Empire with Ash all those years ago so he'd never have to deal with stuff like his father had to!" she broke down at this point. "I was trying to keep him away from you!"  
"Yes...I'm aware of that." Enma trailed off, looking down. "I brought nothing but trouble to his father."  
"Does he know about his father?" Delia asked, a faint glimmer of regret in her eyes.  
"All he knows is that his father was a Kamoa. He doesn't know the name of his father. I sense from you that all of that might change, however."  
"Jesus, Enma...he's too young to be doing what his father was doing. He's not even an adult yet! This could have been avoided if I had just—"  
"Just WHAT?!" Enma spoke up angrily. "Our very LIVES are intertwined by fate, Delia! Ever since I met you and Ash's father, our lives were MEANT to play out like this!"  
"You...you still believe in fate?! Enma, did Ash's father ever teach you ANYTHING?! We make our OWN fate!"  
"A subordinate of mine had me believing that earlier today very briefly... until that DEMON defeated Ash in a single hit. The prophecy about the Dimensional Universe coming to an end—"  
"Is a load of CRAP!" Delia shouted. "That's what HE always said, remember?!"  
"He's DEAD, Delia. He KNEW his death was coming when it happened! He still embraced it!"  
"If he embraced his death, it's only because he saw something his death could bring that no one else COULD have seen, Enma."  
"Then why are you making arguments against fate?" Enma looked confused.  
"Because there's ALWAYS a choice in the matter! He chose to die, in order to bring about his views of a better world!"  
"How DID he die?" came a voice that shocked the two of them, for they were not expecting him to be awake right now. And yet, there stood Ash, a stern look on his face.  
"Ash!" Delia ran over and hugged her son, who lightly shoved her off before looking directly into her eyes.  
"...How did Dad die?"  
"...He was murdered." Enma answered solemnly. "He fought for a cause he believed in and died by the hand of a demon so foul...so sinister...that his name was lost ages ago. Those who still knew of his existence referred to him by one name and one name alone: The Unmaker. "  
"This Unmaker guy...was he who you sent my predecessor out against?" Ash inquired, staring over at Enma.  
"Yes. Though defeated, the imbalance of the universe today is due to his meddling." Enma said, his eyes narrowing to slits as he recollected the Unmaker's visage. "If he had lived, our universe would have been thrown into total annihilation. His very NAME was an indication of his intentions. Had the Unmaking succeeded, none of us would be standing here right now."  
"We may not be for long...if we don't get up there and stop Shadow Wayne immediately."  
"You let me come up with a plan for what to do...YOU need to rest." Enma said, a stern tone in his voice.  
"I've rested enough. I just need a bit of air." Ash sighed, walking toward the front entrance.  
"Ash!" Delia called after her son, who ignored her and walked out of the door. She started after him, but was stopped by Enma placing a hand on her and shaking his head.

* * *

"No one I love is going to die for my sake…" Ash muttered as he walked out into the open field. He stared up at the abominable Core Dimension. He knew at that moment what must be done...with a yell, his wings spread as he took off for his ultimate destiny...


	45. Ash versus Shadow Wayne

PokeWing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 45: History in the Making: Ash Versus Shadow Wayne!  
A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

This episode is FAR too SRS BZNS for a disclaimer.

* * *

"_**SHADOW WAYNE-!**_" Ash roared at the top of his lungs as his wings flapped mightily, propelling him at full speed into the air.

* * *

("Tenka Muteki no Yattarou" by Kappei Yamaguchi, Ai Orikasa, and Jurouta Kosugi)

As Ash let out a scream filled with rage, all of his friends, his mother, and his boss all came running out in shock, seeing him flying into the air.  
"ASH!" Delia called after her son. "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!"  
"TO SAVE THE WORLD!" Ash responded.  
"YOU GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!"  
"YOU CAN GROUND ME OR DO WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT TO DO TO ME WHEN THAT SHADOW'S DEAD!" was Ash's quick response.  
"Come on, let's follow him!" Yusuke motioned to the other detectives, taking a huge leap into the air and grabbing Ash by the legs.  
"What the hell, man?!" Ash looked surprised. "Are you actually trying to stop me?!"  
"HELL no! I need a ride, man. I can't fly, remember?!"  
"...Oh yeah."  
"This is OUR fight too, Ash!" Danny interjected as he rose up to their level, his arms wrapped tightly around Misty's waist as he carried her along with the group.  
"And we're all gonna fight to the bitter end!" Bloo shouted gleefully as he and Mac hung on to dear life, clinging to Jenny's legs. Jenny gave an assuring smirk to Ash and said "We've been together for this ride since the beginning. I'll be damned if this ends WITHOUT me contributing anything."  
"...Thanks, you guys!" Ash grinned widely, as the group approached a large rift in the sky. However, as Ash brought out the Rift Sword and swung it hard at the Rift, it refused to open, causing Ash to stare on in shock, before the rift began to glow. It slowly opened, and Ash cocked his head to the left to see a smirking Wayne.  
"You'd be lost without me, Ketchum." Wayne grinned satisfactorily as he held up his right hand, showing off the Rift Bracelet.  
"...I almost forgot you HAD that thing." Jenny commented.  
"I never really figured out how to use its attacks. I've been using it to open several rifts in the past, and trying to figure out just what the hell it can do aside from that." Wayne explained.  
"It's capable of far more than you can possibly comprehend or DO with it." Riku explained. "Enma once told me that about how much of a threat you were with it, assuming we had gotten the Spirit Stone."  
"Right...only a Kamoa can utilize its true potential." Wayne rolled his eyes. Could we get inside the rift sometime this year and put an end to this?!"  
"Right! Let's go!" Ash shouted, as the group flew into the rift, ready to face the final battle with ferocity unmatched...

* * *

(Title) History in the Making: Ash Versus Shadow Wayne!  
(Jingle) Electric Guitar  
Special Guest Stars: John Truitt as Shadow Wayne Form 2  
Brian Drummond as Ash's "Visitor"

* * *

As the gang all arrived in the Dimensional Elevator, those who couldn't fly let go of those who could and dropped to their feet, aside from Misty, who was released by Danny immediately as soon as she had proper footing. The flyers then righted themselves.  
"Why didn't the Rift Sword work there?" Ash voiced his thoughts aloud.  
"Shadow Wayne must have done something to the fabric of the rift itself. He was trying to seal himself off long enough to bring the Balance Dimension here!" Riku exclaimed.  
"...If he hasn't started a killing spree yet, then he KNOWS he's not invincible! He's trying to get his body back!" Ash said, his eyes wide with horror. "If he does that, he'll win this war for sure!"  
"Then let's stop him here and now!" Jenny said heroically, walking over to the shining circle in the middle of the room. The rest of the gang followed. As soon as Ash stepped on the circle, they could hear a resonating sound...something that sounded like a large water drop resounded within their ears, and suddenly, the circle rose off of the ground, carrying the group of heroes at breakneck speed toward their destination.  
"How do we even know this thing will take us to the Core Dimension?!" Mac shouted.  
"I have a feeling!" Ash responded.  
"That's it?! A FEELING?!" Bloo looked worried.  
"YOU got any better ideas, Blooregard?!" Ash said sternly.  
"Not a one...FINE, we'll ride the stupid elevator of death!"  
"It WILL be an elevator of death if you don't fucking SHUT UP." Wayne threatened Bloo, who meekly backed away.  
"Why did you bring Misty with us?! I wanted her to stay and protect Mom and Jazz!" Ash looked over at Danny.  
"You need all the help you can get to stop Shadow Wayne now that he has those Spirit Stones!" Misty protested. "It doesn't matter if I'm there or not! If he gets his way, they're going to die anyway!"  
"..." Ash looked down. "If...if we lose this fight..."  
"DON'T talk like that. We'll WIN." Yusuke chastised Ash.  
"Let me say this..." Ash continued, ignoring Yusuke. "It's been an honor to know and fight alongside ALL of you."  
"Don't get mushy on us now, Ketchum." Wayne grumbled.  
"You are ALL the best friends a Kamoa could ever ask for." Ash smiled.  
"Gee...I..." Bloo trailed off. "I don't know what to say..."  
"Me neither..." Mac chimed in. "It's been an honor on this end as well."  
"Let's cut the sap." Yusuke said, a determined look on his face as he pumped a fist into the air. "One way or another, this ENDS tonight!"  
"YEAH!" the group excitedly exclaimed, as the elevator entered into a rift. As it emerged on the other side of the rift, they were surrounded by walls for a few seconds, before purple-black fog came pouring down upon them. Each of the detectives coughed and gasped, the noxious fumes making their eyes tear up before a small, translucent shield of Spirit Energy surrounded the group, generated by...  
"The bracelet?" Wayne gasped. "It's shining...is it protecting us from the Nightmare Energy?"  
Suddenly, a voice sounded out, alarming all who were present.  
"You DO have the devil's luck, Ketchum...I never thought that Wayne could utilize that power from the bracelet..."  
"...SHADOW WAYNE..." Ash snarled. "**WHERE ARE YOU?!** I'M HERE TO END THIS!"  
"Ah ah ah..." Shadow Wayne clicked his tongue. "First, you must navigate this putrid dimension and find the Altar of Balance! I will be waiting there...DON'T keep me waiting long."  
"I'LL FIND YOU, YOU BASTARD, AND WHEN I DO, I'LL RIP YOU THE FUCK APART!" Ash roared, charging into the mist before being repelled by the barrier and sent back into Danny, knocking the two warriors over. As they got to their feet, Wayne chose that moment to speak up.  
"Don't separate from the group until we reach the next floor...this one's overrun with Nightmare Energy."  
"What about it? If it were lethal, that small bit we breathed in would have killed us."  
"Think about it, Ash! It's NIGHTMARE Energy! The Nightmares are BORN from this stuff. This shield is the only thing keeping those things at bay right now." As if to prove Wayne's point, a Nightmare suddenly leapt out of the fog with a hiss, instantly dissolving the foul creature.  
"You mean...this dimension is FULL of these things?!" Ash looked stunned.  
"Yes, and I don't know whether this shield will last or not! We have to find the next floor, NOW!" Suddenly, a light projected from the bracelet, pointing to the northeast.  
"Huh?" Wayne expressed surprise at the bracelet's new 'trick'. "I didn't do anything..."  
"...sh...c...i...h..." came the extremely garbled voice of Enma. Ash opened his wrist communicator and stared his boss in the face as best he could, for the screen was cutting in and out.  
"What is it, Enma?!"  
For a few seconds, the picture and voice of Enma managed to stabilize.  
"Ash, the bracelet is pointing the way to Balance!"  
"What?"  
"Both Rift weapons are made of a special Kamoa metal called Dimensium, which is naturally attracted to the highest concentrations of energy! It's pointing to the Balance Dimension because that's where energy was BORN! The fact that it's picking up the Balance Dimension's energy is a sign that the universe's time is almost up! You have to get to the Altar of Balance and use your Rift Sword to seal the Balance Dimension again, or we're all going to DIE!"  
"But how?!" Ash said, and just before Enma broke up completely, the communicator screen going blank. "ENMA! TELL ME WHAT I HAVE TO DO!" he dropped to his knees and pounded the ground in anger. "DAMN IT!"  
"Come on, we're wasting time here!" Wayne shouted, then stared on in horror as the shield began to slowly fade. "We have to get to that exit! Our time's almost up!"  
"..." Ash growled, then scooped Misty into his arms.  
"H...hey!" Misty looked shocked, as Ash ran out of the barrier.  
"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Wayne yelled, running after Ash. The group followed, not wanting to be left outside of the barrier before it faded completely away. As they ran, they eventually found another glowing circle, which they hurriedly stepped into. As they stopped dead-center in the circle, they were once again going at breakneck speed. By the time they stopped, the shield had completely faded, but they didn't seem to need it here, as the purple-black mist was nowhere in sight. The arrow then shined heavily, altering its direction to the north slightly.  
"Why did it change...?" Riku thought aloud.  
"Perhaps the dimension hasn't fully formed back into existence, yet..." Wayne stared intently at the arrow. "...or perhaps the bracelet is merely guiding us to the Altar..." The group continued on silently at this point, as soon as Ash had set Misty back down. As they walked, Jenny suddenly stopped, gasping loudly as she saw Tremorton below them.  
"My home..."  
"This dimension exists in ALL of the Dimensional Universe." Riku explained. "We can ALL see our homes from here."  
"He's right! There's Mushiyori City!" Yusuke pointed out.  
"And there's Amity Park!" Danny chimed in.  
"Hey Bloo, it's Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends!" Mac exclaimed.  
"If we could take a moment not to marvel at this...Shadow Wayne's still alive." Wayne grumbled.  
"He's right! Marvel later! Let's get going!" Ash shouted. As he and the rest of the gang continued on, a familiar voice entered his head.  
"Do not worry about how to use your Rift Sword to de-power the Altar of Balance, Ash...I know how it works." came the voice of Ash's unseen 'visitor'.  
'Where the HELL have you been?' Ash thought harshly. 'Could've used your so-called help back when Shadow Wayne was trying to ruin the future.'  
"You didn't need me then. That was something you had to figure out and stop on your own." the Visitor responded.  
'And now?'  
"Now even I may not be enough...but I will do what I can to defeat him and make sure that you live."  
'Who...who ARE you?! Why do you care whether I live or die?!'  
"I will reveal my name if, or rather WHEN, we succeed in banishing this blasted shadow. For now, you must get to the third segment of the Core Dimension. That is where the Altar of Balance is."  
'If we keep going this way, it'll just be a matter of us running into the elevator, right?'  
"If you think it's that simple, good luck. The area will probably be swarmed with Nightmares..."  
Sure enough, as the elevator came into view, there were no fewer than fifty Nightmares guarding it, each hissing loudly at the approaching adults, teenagers, and children.  
"Good GOD...there's more of these things than I can count!" Bloo shouted.  
"So...more than five, then?" Yusuke joked.  
"Har har!" Bloo retorted."Can we focus here?!"  
"That explains why there was no Nightmare Energy when we got up here." Wayne said, eyes wide with terror. "What the hell are we going to do now?! That THING is about to call the APOCALYPSE!"  
"Hang on, got an idea!" Riku interjected, grabbing Ash with one hand and Misty with the other. With a loud grunt, he tossed them into the middle of the glowing circle, which immediately shot up into the sky, carrying the two off.  
"What the hell did you do that for?!" Wayne shouted.  
"Ash needs to get to that altar IMMEDIATELY." Riku explained. "WE can deal with this rabble."  
"So let's deal with it already!" Yusuke said, and the group assumed a battle stance as the Nightmares crawled viciously toward them.

* * *

"So..." Misty suddenly spoke up as the elevator rocketed upward. "...Shadow Wayne has been possessing Wayne the entire time we've known him?"

"Right." Ash nodded.

"...Why would he pick Wayne's physical form?"  
"I'm sure he took that form to drag Wayne even further through the mud than he already has been..." Ash sighed, looking up to judge how far they had left to go before the elevator came to a complete stop. He looked down to notice that his friends were all fighting the Nightmares ferociously.  
"They're all fighting for you." Misty reassured  
"They're all fighting for the universe." Ash said solemnly. "I'd better do the same. When we get up here, hide. Assuming there IS a place to hide, that is."  
"What?! No!" Misty objected loudly. "I came here to help you!"  
"And the best way you can do that is to stay the hell out of my way!" Ash countered angrily. "Look...I know you want to help, but that THING is one step away from destroying the universe. Things are REALLY bad right now...and I'm gonna have to go in there with EVERYTHING I've got."  
"...I understand." Misty sighed, looking away, as the elevator finally slowed down, coming to a complete stop before a large door.  
"...This is it." Ash said. "I feel him on the other side of this door..." He turned to Misty. "Stay here."  
"...Good luck, Ash." she wished him well, as he opened the doors.

* * *

Shadow Wayne stood atop a large, circular altar, which had a spiraling staircase leading down toward the very door Ash had just arrived from. Around the altar were four tall crystalline pillars, which glowed with the colors of each element: red for fire, blue for water, brown for earth, and green for air. Well...the fire and water pillars were glowing, anyway, most likely due to the presence of their respective Spirit Stones. Shadow Wayne had, in his brief absence, taken on a brand new form. This form looked nothing at all like his host. He was now semi-demonic, with white, armor-like plating covering his chest. Two curved horns had sprouted from his head, and his skin had changed to a reddish hue. All trace of hair was gone as well; instead Shadow Wayne now sported what almost looked like a white helmet on his head. His eyes were now amber-colored and cat-like. Finally, his feet bore three freakishly large, pointed toes, making him look far more like the demon that everyone had claimed him to be. He laughed and looked down at Ash, who ran up the stairs.  
"Young man...you're in for the battle of your life." He walked between the blue and red pillars, crossed his arms, and grinned evilly, with his newly-formed jagged teeth. Seconds later, Ash arrived at the top of the stairs, with a shout of "**SHADOW WAYNE!**"  
"Please...you think your rage even comes CLOSE to frightening me?" he chortled, walking out from between the pillars and coming into view for the young Kamoa, who gasped at his appearance. "...Fitting, no?"  
"Well...yeah, it DOES fit you."  
"I figured a newer, more powerful body was in order for this showdown. Unfortunately, it seems I can't call the Balance Dimension immediately. It'll take about an hour to arrive."  
"Then why aren't you panicking?"  
"We both know the answer to that, Ash. I'm far, FAR more powerful than you, even in this limited form." Shadow Wayne walked forward slowly. "And since you've put forth considerable effort to come and fight me, your humiliating defeat should be seen by more than your friends..." he laughed, as the darkness around them faded, revealing what almost appeared like a billion TV monitors around them. "My little 'window to the world', as it were. Now everyone in the Dimensional Universe will know of your FAILURE tonight!"

* * *

"Mr. and Mrs. Fenton!" Sam called out frantically, pounding on the front door. Tucker stood next to her, his back to the door, as he stared up in horror at the monstrous continent that had appeared in the sky.  
"What is i—" Jack opened the door, then dropped the glass he was holding as he looked up in extreme panic, eyes and jaw enormously wide. "WHAT IN THE HELL IS THAT THING?! MADDIE, COME QUICK!"  
"Coming J—" Maddie also cut herself off, slowly reaching for the camera in her hazmat suit's left pocket and snapping a picture of the twisted Core Dimension.  
"Is that a...A CONTINENT?!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Paulina, Star, Dash, and Kwan were all visiting Valerie in the hospital. As Dash stood up and walked over to the window, he gasped in shock. "Uh...guys? There's an ENORMOUS continent in the sky." Just then, the image of the goings-on in the Altar of Balance were projected onto the fog surrounding the dimension. Dash saw the image of Ash standing there facing down some sort of devil-like creature, Rift Sword at the ready, and did a double take.  
"...KETCHUM?!"

* * *

"If I were you, Ash...I'd just quit right now. I might even spare y—"  
"Shut the HELL up! Before I murder the fuck out of you, answer me this...why?! Why do you want to kill humans?!"  
"...Very well. I'll consider this a last request. So young, and so foolish...anyway, to answer your question...look around you, Ash. Humans are imperfect creatures. They fight all the time. Wars have gone on for no reason at times other than to satisfy the human ego. Such imperfect creatures do not belong in MY universe. So for that very reason, humanity must be crushed..."  
"You're CRAZY!"  
"And you are minutes away from death...but don't feel alone. Humanity will soon follow..." he closed his eyes, smirking, then horrifying Ash with the next words to come out of his mouth. "...followed by EVERYTHING ELSE. Nothing is perfect, so I will destroy it all and create a race of perfect beings to rule over...a race of perfect beings JUST. LIKE. _**ME.**_" he emphasized the last three words grinning wickedly.  
"You can't! I won't LET YOU!" Ash shouted, pointing his Rift Sword toward Shadow Wayne.  
"And how do you intend to stop me, Ash?"  
"The same way I should have 'stopped' you in the future! I'm going to KILL YOU TO PIECES!" Ash roared, bringing his Rift Sword to the front and gathering Spirit Energy in it. Quickly the energy gathered, and he ran furiously at Shadow Wayne and leaped into the air.  
"SPIRIT SLASH!" he shouted, sending the blade of energy at Shadow Wayne, who shocked Ash by simply catching the blade and absorbing it.  
"...I may not be part of Wayne anymore, but I have absorbed THAT little skill. I can now learn ANYTHING you throw at me! Time for you to experience a REAL Spirit Slash!" he shouted, as a large energy sword formed into his right hand. Energy quickly gathered into it, and he sent it flying at Ash, who had no time to dodge, letting out a bloodcurdling scream of agony as it hit him, sending him flying back into the earth pillar. As he hit the ground, he was frighteningly motionless. It was at this second that Misty had finished climbing the stairs. Her mouth hung open in horror as the tears began to leak from her eyes, realizing that Ash was most likely dead. The chance that he had survived the attack was minimal at best, she realized, as she began to weep loudly.  
"Don't be so sad...you're about to join him." Shadow Wayne smirked, walking forward slowly. Before he could stab Misty with the energy sword, though, he felt something holding onto his arm. He grinned down at Ash, who returned the grin. "Well, you DID surprise me quite a bit there."  
"I do that a lot." Ash said.  
"Of course you realize you can't hold me back for long."  
"Of course you realize that isn't the point." Ash retorted.  
"Then w—"  
"I'm not left-handed." he smirked, then wordlessly fired a Spirit Gun into Shadow Wayne's chest as he let go, sending him spiraling back into the Water Pillar. He then leaped back to his feet and fired another Spirit Gun, and another, pinning Shadow Wayne for a few minutes before he tuckered out.  
"Surely that CAN'T be all you can muster, young Ash..." Shadow Wayne frowned, turning around and walking forward toward Ash.  
"..." Ash breathed heavily, as the demon loomed ever closer to him.  
"Are you really that pathetic?" Shadow Wayne loomed over the young Kamoa, grinning evilly, before Ash shot him point-blank in the head with a Shotgun. As the dust cleared, Ash grinned widely, noticing that the demon's head had been blown off.  
"If you'd paid a little more mind to your former lackeys, you might have noticed that Vexus suffered a similar fate. Too bad, you're dead." he smirked as the demon's headless body dropped to the ground.  
"My god...my god! You DID IT, Ash!" Misty shouted gleefully, running over to Ash and hugging him tightly. After returning the hug, he walked over to Shadow Wayne's corpse and grinned down.  
"Are you really that pathetic?" he parroted the very words Shadow Wayne had said before his defeat. His grin, however, turned quickly into an open-mouthed look of horror, which was shared by Misty, as Shadow Wayne's katana had now protruded from Ash's back, forming a hole in the area of his small intestine.  
"ASH-!" Misty screamed in horror, looking on in disbelief as Ash slumped to the floor, lifeless. Shadow Wayne's head slowly formed back onto his neck, and as it finished reforming, he spoke again.  
"No...apparently, you are though. Such a pity. I almost LIKED you, Ash. You were something else entirely...something more than a Kamoa..."  
Misty continued to stare on in horror, making little sputtering gasps of breath as she tried to process what had just happened before her eyes. When she finally did, she did the only thing she could think to do at that point...  
"Ash...no...no! NO, NO, NOOOOOO!" she shouted, dropping to her knees and pounding the ground in grief. "_**AAAAAASH!**_" she called out, in vain, for Ash Ketchum could no longer hear her. Shadow Wayne simply howled with laughter, knowing that he had, once and for all, achieved ultimate victory...


	46. Grief-filled Counterstrike!

PokeWingZ: Dimension Rifters, Episode 46: Grief-Filled Counterstrike! Give It Everything You've Got!  
A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

RAR, MORE SRS BZNS. READ DISCLAIMER ELSEWHERE.

* * *

Shadow Wayne stood over the body of Ash, laughing wildly.  
"That's that." He looked down, kicking Ash's corpse to be sure.  
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Misty shouted, running at Shadow Wayne with righteous fury. The demon simply laughed.  
"Pathetic." Shadow Wayne scoffed, whirling around suddenly and roundhouse kicking Misty into the Pillar of Air. She gasped in pain as she collided with the pillar. "This is the big league, kid. Some peewee like you doesn't belong here." He walked over to Misty and raised his katana. "This will END it." Before he could stab Misty, however, Jenny's arm rocketed out of nowhere and knocked him away. As Jenny walked forward, she spoke with a venomous tone.  
"Don't think you've won just because Ash is dead. We're here too!" She spat, and as she came fully into view, Yusuke, Mac, and Bloo showed up, ready to defend their respective worlds, as well as all other worlds…

* * *

(Title) Grief-Filled Counterstrike! Give it Everything You've Got!  
(Jingle) 5:25-5:30 of Rurouni Kenshin's "The Last Wolf Suite"

* * *

"Oh look…it's the Sidekick Squad." Shadow Wayne jeered.  
"Hey, we are NOT sidekicks!" Bloo countered. "We're just as important as the grownups!"  
"I was referring to ALL of you. When was the last time any of you did anything of ANY substance? Aside from Yusuke here, you've all been sitting on the sidelines doing nothing, and now you honestly think all that nothing you've done is going to amount to defeating me?! I just KILLED your leader, the strongest among you! You have NO CHANCE IN HELL!"  
"We'll see about that!" Mac shouted, grabbing Bloo and using the aptly-if-horribly-named Bloomerang, striking Shadow Wayne in the chest. As he stepped back due to the force of Bloo's hit, Jenny appeared, throwing a series of lightning-fast punches to the shadow's chest, causing him to double back once again. As he did so this time, Yusuke landed a solid punch to his face, sending him against the Pillar of Water. Without even a moment's hesitation, Jenny and Yusuke were once again punching Shadow Wayne with a series of lightning-fast volleys. As they finally let up, Jenny's hand converted into a laser and Yusuke pointed at the demon, ready to fire a Spirit Gun. Simultaneously, they fired upon Shadow Wayne, cracking the pillar he was up against. Before they could react, however, he actually split in half, reforming and butting their heads together. Without stopping, he ran over to Mac and Bloo, picked them up, and slammed them with sickening thuds against the Pillar of Earth. As they slumped to the ground unconscious, Shadow Wayne started to turn around, only to be punched simultaneously by Jenny and Yusuke, the latter of which proceeded to copy Ash's earlier move and blow off Shadow Wayne's head with a Spirit Shotgun. As Shadow Wayne's body started to slump to the ground, a sword was produced from one of Jenny's numerous compartments, which she then stabbed into the demon's chest with a force comparable to a hydraulic ram, effectively pinning him to the pillar and causing him to drop the katana he had been holding since he had used the Spirit Slash. For added measure, she produced two more swords and pinned his arms. "He's ALL yours, Yusuke." She said, stepping back. Yusuke happily obliged, punching the body again and again until his fist actually broke through the armor-like plating.  
"Guess you're not such a badass after all, huh? I'm surprised you killed Ash." Yusuke looked back over at Ash with a twinge of regret. "At least you aren't going to kill anyone else. Your plan failed, Shadow Wayne. YOU failed." He walked away, over to the unconscious Misty, Mac, and Bloo. "Hey, get up, it's o—" he was cut off by Jenny hitting into him. "SON OF A BITCH!" he yelled, falling to the ground. As he picked himself back up, his mouth gaped in horror as he saw something truly disturbing: the body was still pinned to the pillar, but now there was ANOTHER Shadow Wayne, taking on his original form. He placed his hand on the dead shadow's chest, firing into it. As the first body disintegrated, the Spirit Stones dropped. He grabbed them, and instantly, he transformed into the form that the first one had taken.  
"Yes…yes…congratulations. You KILLED my double. Too bad there're more of them."  
"THERE ARE MORE?!" Jenny looked stunned.  
"About TEN THOUSAND of them, to be exact." The new Shadow Wayne explained, grinning wickedly. "You see…the Unmaker can form us here effortlessly. This is close to the Balance Dimension, which houses the Unmaker's original body." Shadow Wayne grinned evilly.  
"Who is the Unmaker?!" Jenny shouted, causing Shadow Wayne's grin to widen.  
"He who will Unmake the universe itself and restructure it to his tastes." The demon explained once more, spreading his arms as if to provide a visual representation of the events that would soon transpire due to his victory this day...only to be caught completely by surprise as the ground itself rose and formed makeshift manacles around his hands. "W...WHAT IS THIS?!"  
"My, but you love to hear the sound of your own voice, don't you?" came the voice of Misty, whose hands were still together from the alchemy she had just performed. "Well, now you're helpless. I'm going to slowly torture you for what you've done to my Ash..." As she finished, Shadow Wayne laughed loudly. "WHAT'S SO FUNNY?!"  
"He wasn't yours, Misty...or did you forget that he fell in love with Jasmine Fenton as well?"  
"I don't care about that...hell, I don't care if he ended up choosing Jazz! But now he's dead, and I suddenly find myself caring a LOT less about what condition YOU'RE about to be in!"  
"If you think you have the strength to take me down, be my guest and try to stop me!" Shadow Wayne laughed.  
"I'll make you EAT that laugh!" Misty shouted, slapping the ground in rage. As soon as the sound had registered, a sword made out of stone broke apart from the altar, which Misty grabbed and angrily rammed into the demon's forehead. Instantly, the demon stopped laughing, and didn't budge an inch. Not content with this, however, Misty ripped the sword out and proceeded to hack off his limbs one by one. As she finished, she collapsed, sobbing. At that moment, the demon's dismembered left hand rose up and blasted Misty away from the remaining limbs. He grinned evilly as the hole in his head closed up and his limbs reattached themselves.  
"Misty! Oh shit!" Yusuke shouted, looking at her unconscious form, then angrily back at Shadow Wayne  
"Did I forget to mention that the Water Stone allows me to regenerate almost instantaneously?" Shadow Wayne laughed. "No? Well, at least it's out in the open no—" he was cut off due to the loss of his head once again, this time from a green ectoplasmic energy bolt. Danny walked out into the open with a snarl.  
"You talk WAY too much, douchebag. The time for that is over. It's time for ACTION." he said, blasting the demon back with another bolt, this time to the stomach, which made a perfectly cylindrical hole in his abdomen. "I guess you couldn't 'stomach' our assault after all!" he cracked, and in the background, he could hear a loud groan from Yusuke. "You can't take the 'pun'ishment, Yusuke?"  
"Crack another joke and I'll be cracking your SKULL against the nearest blunt object forty or fifty times!" Yusuke threatened.  
"Besides which..." came Shadow Wayne's voice, as his head reformed, much to Danny's shock "That pun was AWFUL." His abdomen then immediately closed up.  
"How did you...?!"  
"You REALLY don't get it, do you...?! We're on MY home turf now. MY rules apply!" Shadow Wayne shouted. "Aside from the fact that I'm in possession of the all-powerful Water Stone, I'm MADE of the stuff crawling around this dimension!"  
"!" Jenny, Yusuke, and Danny all looked horrified. "...You're a NIGHTMARE?!" Jenny's eyes widened.  
"Crude...but yes. I am. My body is composed of the same substance as that of a standard Nightmare."  
"That's explains why you splat as easily as the rest of them...!"  
"The whole 'me not staying dead' thing can be attributed to the Water Stone. Had I not found it, I would have been dead the FIRST time Ash managed to blow off my head! Too bad for him that he didn't have the Water Stone...he'd still be alive right now."  
"His death won't be in vain." Danny said, grimacing.  
"Are you going to stop me, Danny? You haven't even gained full mastery of your powers!" Shadow Wayne sneered.  
"And how the hell would you know about THAT?" was Danny's furious retort.  
"...Can you duplicate?" Shadow Wayne grinned, as he suddenly did the exact trick he'd mentioned a second ago.  
"I'll give it my DAMN best shot!" Danny replied, attempting to copy Shadow Wayne's trick. However, the best he could do was two torsos attached to his one set of legs, causing him to fall over from the added weight.  
"PATHETIC." Shadow Wayne looked disdainfully down on the young half ghost.  
"PATHETIC." his duplicate parroted. "You expect to defeat u—" he was cut off by Bloo, resuming boomerang position, smacking into him and turning him into Nightmare goo.  
"How's THAT for the so-called 'Sidekick Squad'?!" Mac laughed as Bloo landed next to him.  
"Oh no, you killed my duplicate. Whatever shall I do?" Shadow Wayne asked flatly, grinning the entire time. "Oh yeah...HA HA, FIRE HANDS." he laughed, firing a blast of flame at Mac and Bloo, who barely dodged out of the way in time. He turned just in time to dodge another extended punch from Jenny. "COME ON! I'M BARELY BREAKING A SWEAT HERE! THIS CAN'T BE THE BEST YOU'VE ALL GOT!" he roared with laughter, as he hit Jenny head on with a full-force blast of blue fire.  
"JEN!" Yusuke shouted, then immediately leapt into action once more, punching Shadow Wayne and sending him across the room. Shadow Wayne quickly regained his footing however and sent a wave of blue fire heading for Yusuke, but Jenny took the full force of the wave.  
"JEN, STOP IT! THAT STUFF'S HOT ENOUGH TO MELT METAL!" he shouted.  
"I'm...I'm...all *bzzt* right..." Jenny trailed off, though evidence pointed to the contrary, as her left arm was no longer there, having been melted into scrap.  
"Another couple of these and you'll be nothing but an unwelcome memory...and a pile of molten sludge!" Shadow Wayne cackled insanely.  
"...Even if I melt down here...Mom will rebuild me, and I'll come back to kick your ass into Oblivion!" Jenny protested.  
"Come BACK?! You don't even have a SOUL! You don't even get to find out what the afterlife is like! It's COMPLETELY over for you when I'm done melting you!" Shadow Wayne's eyes were wild.  
"You're WRONG. I DO have *bzzt* a soul. I'm not JUST a robot! I think and *bzzt* I feel for myself AND others!" Jenny looked determined as she stared the tyrannical demon down.  
"...if you're so determined that you have a soul..." he grinned wickedly. "Then let's FIND OUT!" he shouted, raising his right hand once more. Before he could move, however, he was thrown off-guard by a shout.  
"You've dropped your guard...SHADOW WAYNE!" Riku shouted, dive-bombing at the horrified Shadow Wayne from the sky. "_**YOUR HEAD IS MINE!**_" And before Shadow Wayne could even react, Riku's sword now stuck through one end of his head and out of the other. Shadow Wayne's eyes rolled back up into his head, but he surprised Riku by immediately slashing him across the chest afterward, causing Riku To loosen his grip on his Spirit Katana and stumble backward. The katana then disappeared into thin air as Shadow Wayne's forehead closed up quickly.  
"Had you figured out that the Water Stone could instantaneously heal me, you might have been able to cut it out of my body...assuming you knew WHERE it was...you had the opportunity of a lifetime, Riku Kurosawa-Yukimora..." Shadow Wayne cut himself off, grinning wickedly once again. "...And you BLEW IT." Riku, in response, raised his right hand and made a fist.  
"I haven't blown ANYTHING. You, on the other hand... you had the opportunity to waste me at my wedding... then the opportunity to kill Ash when we got back to Pallet Town... finally, you could have wasted ALL of THEM..." Riku swept his hands out, referencing everyone who was still alive. "before I arrived... if you're TRULY the badass you claim to be, then do it now... END me... if you CAN!" he finished by letting loose with an unannounced Fist of the Mortal Flame, hitting Shadow Wayne dead center in the chest. Before Shadow Wayne could regain his composure, Riku nailed him again in the same spot, this time with a Double Fist of the Mortal Flame, ending it with an unannounced Sword of the Mortal Flame, which effectively cut the demon in half. As he reformed, he slashed open Riku's left thigh, causing him to wince in pain.  
"Those quick movements you've made won't be so quick now..." Shadow Wayne snickered. "This is the end, Riku Kurosawa!"  
"Yes...yes it is...YOUR END. DEATH RAY!" Riku yelled in retaliation, firing a massive ray, which took out about seventy percent of the Shadow's body, leaving only the arms, legs, and pelvis. Even this, however, was not enough, as the right hand rose and blasted Riku with a searing jolt of fire, sending him backwards. Riku landed on the ground, unmoving.  
"...Hmm hmm hmm..." the demon snickered as he reformed once again.. "Guess I AM that self-proclaimed badass after all."  
"RIKU!" Danny shouted for his friend, but once again, it looked as if Shadow Wayne had succeeded in taking yet another life in his rampage throughout the Dimensional Universe...

* * *

Meanwhile, in Pallet Town, Delia stood sobbing, as she had seen everything that had transpired, including the death of her son.  
"Damn...DAMN!" Enma shouted angrily. "None of this would have happened if I had just..." he trailed off, causing Delia to interject furiously.  
"NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF YOU'D JUST LEFT ASH ALONE, YOU BASTARD! IT'S YOUR FAULT MY BABY IS DEAD! EVERYTHING IS YOUR FAULT!" she screamed, angrily pounding Enma's chest as she broke down into more sobs.  
"...He died to save you...to save ALL of this Dimensional Universe! His sacrifice wasn't in vain! We can still win!"  
"_**HOW?!**_" Jazz screamed, causing Enma to turn around to acknowledge her as tears leaked from her eyes as well. "ASH IS DEAD! HE WAS THE STRONGEST PERSON FIGHTING AGAINST SHADOW WAYNE! AND NOW HE'S LYING IN A POOL OF HIS OWN BLOOD! _**HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN?!**_"  
"..." Enma remained silent. "We still have a chance. There IS still something we can do!" his look turned determined as he held out his hand, causing a rift to appear. At that moment, Janine, Motoko, and Osaka showed up. "You three, let's go! Into the rift!"  
"But where does it go?!" Janine asked.  
"Where else? The Dimensional Elevator!" Enma smirked. "Let's go help out Ash..."  
"But he's DEAD!" Motoko interjected, causing Enma's smirk to widen.  
"...Not for long, he's not." As he made one more motion with his hand, he was beaten to the portal by a determined Jazz. "Jasmine! SHIT! Let's get going!" And with that, the other four vanished into the portal.  
"What is that bastard planning...?!" Delia asked, before looking up at Ash. "God help us all..." she muttered, before resuming her sobs.

* * *

In the meantime, Misty had regained consciousness and rejoined the others. She was looking at the extent of Jenny's injuries as Danny desperately tried to fend off Shadow Wayne's vicious assault, with little success.  
"Jesus, Jenny..." she shook her head, noticing that part of Jenny's head had started to melt away.  
"I'll...*bzzt*...I'll be-be-be-be fine-ne-ne-ne." Jenny gasped out.  
"Her internal systems must have taken damage." Misty said to Yusuke. "I can give her a quick fix with parts from this altar, but I need you, Mac, Bloo, and Danny to fend off Shadow Wayne while I do so!"  
"Right! Leave it to us!" Yusuke said, turning toward Shadow Wayne with a snarl. "C'mon Mac, I need you to open up on him!"  
"Got it!" Mac shouted, grabbing Bloo once more and calling out "Bloomerang!", giving Bloo a quick toss.  
"I HATE THAT NA-A-A-ME-!" Bloo shouted, flying into Shadow Wayne before he could do any serious harm to Danny. At that point Yusuke let loose with a Spirit Shotgun at the same time that Danny let loose with a large ectoplasmic energy bolt. Both collided with Shadow Wayne, sending him reeling backward. At that point, Yusuke reappeared in front of him, now sporting the mark of the Mazoku, as he unleashed a furious volley of punches. Shadow Wayne seemed to be more affected by these punches, but not by much. He actually showed pain in his facial expression, but said pain was being mitigated by the healing properties of the Water Stone.  
"This is simply a waiting game, Urameshi. You'll tire out soon, and when you do, you DIE." Shadow Wayne laughed, and sure enough, a few minutes later, Yusuke's Mazoku tattoos had started to fade, and shortly afterward, his movements slowed to a halt.  
"Just as I thought...even you can't keep up with THAT level of intensity. And now, you DIE." Shadow Wayne smirked, slashing Yusuke across the abdomen, sending him flying. Just like Riku, as he hit the ground, he lay motionless. Danny looked on in horror, then looked around him and surveyed the death. He gritted his teeth in an ugly snarl and shouted "YOU SON OF A BITCH!"  
"Oh yeah...you're still alive." Shadow Wayne said flatly. "You had your chance, peewee. While I admit you are stronger than the sidekicks over there..." he trailed off, and Bloo shouted.  
"WE'RE NOT SIDEKICKS!"  
"...You and I are still WORLDS apart in power!"  
"WE'LL SEE ABOUT THAT!" Danny shouted, replanting his feet into the ground. "Sorry Yusuke, Riku, Ash..." he said, before belting out a mighty Ghostly Wail, which pushed Shadow Wayne to the edge of the altar easily, but the demon stood his ground and ultimately, threw his katana, piercing the ghost boy through the stomach. With a look of horror, Danny slumped to the ground, much as Ash had done previously. Shadow Wayne then simply fired a Devil Gun at Misty, who was still unfinished with Jenny's makeshift repairs. "A-A-A-A-A-AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Misty screamed, being tossed over the edge of the altar and onto the cold, hard floor below, where she lay unmoving like the four before her who had met with a similar fate to what she'd experienced...  
"Hmm hmm hmm..." Shadow Wayne chuckled, looking over the bodies he had just robbed of life. His little chuckle then became an insane cackle. He continued to cackle as Mac and Bloo backed up in disbelief, and Jenny began to power down... "ISN'T THERE ONE AMONG YOU WHO CAN EVEN BEGIN TO CHALLENGE ME?!" he laughed, his eyes looking over at Mac and Bloo. "If you aren't sidekicks, then go ahead! HAVE AT YOU!" Bloo nervously backed away in response, causing Shadow Wayne's mad cackling to continue. His laughter, however, was ceased by the voice of...  
"I'LL fight you!" Wayne said, walking onto the altar, sword drawn.  
"...You're joking, right? YOU?! I ALREADY proved I was better than you by possessing you for EIGHT YEARS!" Shadow Wayne boasted. "And now you think you can KILL me?!"  
"Wrong. I KNOW I can kill you." Wayne smiled warmly, walking forward.  
"You're mad...you would throw your own LIFE away to stop me?" Shadow Wayne's face had an unsure grin on it.  
"Every day of the week, but that's neither here nor there...join me in HELL, Shadow Wayne!" Wayne exclaimed, holding out his sword, determined to take this demon out once and for all, possibly by sacrificing his own life, for he appeared to be the very last thing standing between Shadow Wayne and complete destruction...


	47. The Kamoa Cherubim

PokeWing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 47: The Kamoa Cherubim  
A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

DISCLAIMER. OTHER EPISODES. SRS BZNS RAR.

* * *

"If you honestly think you can stop me, be my guest, Wayne." Shadow Wayne let out a small chuckle, walking toward Wayne with a satisfied smirk on his face. "Of course...you could have killed me back when you first freed yourself from me..." he commented, his smug smirk turning into a smug grin. "You could have eliminated the goo you so graciously turned me into. Instead, you opted to sleep with that little tart Aimee. Once I'm done with you and the Sidekick Squad here, I think I'll pay a special visit to her house and waste h—" he was cut off by a massively powerful Devil Gun to the chest, sending him flying into the Pillar of Water again. Wayne stood in the same spot he had been, pointing his left finger at the shadow with a snarl.  
"**SHUT UP.**" Wayne growled. "You killed Ketchum and the others, I won't let you get away with that!"  
"You'll have to do better than that, stupid Eltherian boy!" Shadow Wayne taunted, pulling off a heretofore unseen technique: he liquefied and poured into one of the cracks made in the altar, reemerging in front of Wayne and punching him in the face, sending him instantaneously flying to the very edge of the large, raised square platform.  
"Dammit..." Wayne grumbled, climbing to his feet, before tapping his right foot while standing in place. "You'll never get the better of me again!"  
"Shukuchi..." Shadow Wayne smirked. "If I weren't...y'know...ME, that would work without question."  
"I'll make it work...even on YOU!" Wayne retorted, disappearing as his feet randomly touched the ground at light speed. As he reappeared in a more solid visible form, he slashed the demon in two. As the demon split, Wayne grabbed its left hand.  
"What the hell...?!" Shadow Wayne uttered.  
"If I had the power to store my all-powerful orbs anywhere in my body, I'd give myself easy access..." Wayne smirked. "Like...say, the power to wave my HAND to achieve the desired effect!" As he finished speaking, he poured some of his destructive demon energy into the hand, causing it to melt away, revealing the Water Stone, which Wayne then tightly grasped. "As I figured...we DO think alike. GAME OVER, Shadow Wayne." he grinned triumphantly. "Without the Water Stone, it's just a matter of minutes before the last bit of life leaves your body!" However, to his horror, Shadow Wayne simply grinned, reforming instantly (Aside from his left hand) and punching Wayne again, causing Wayne to lose his grip on the Water Stone. However, as his grip loosened, his hands flung back, causing the stone to fly backward over the edge. Shadow Wayne laughed, expecting it to impact and shatter, dooming the universe anyway. However, despite the fact that the two remaining warriors could hear a pin drop, the stone's impact never sounded out, the reason for which was revealed seconds later, as Enma floated up, smirking.  
"Y'really oughta keep a better hold on these things." Enma grinned at Shadow Wayne. "You've failed."  
"In case you've forgotten, Enma...that's only HALF of the whole puzzle." Shadow Wayne returned the grin as his left hand grew back.  
"How are you doing that without the Water Stone?" Wayne asked, shocked and confused.  
"My body's made of solidified Nightmare Energy...what this dimension itself is made of!" Shadow Wayne laughed insanely. "This is why I told you all to meet me here! Here, I CANNOT DIE!" he continued to laugh.  
"Unless you're vaporized..." Enma concluded, smirking again as the demon's laughter immediately ceased. "In order for you to continue to exist, at least ONE speck of you has to survive. Of course, between the lot of us..." Enma swept out his hand to acknowledge the now present Janine, Osaka, Jazz, and Motoko. "...we will destroy EVERY last bit of you."  
"You think that THOSE pathetic weaklings will stop me?" Shadow Wayne frowned.  
"Nope!" Enma smirked once more, raising the Water Stone and shouting "HEALING STREAM!". Miraculously, Riku, Yusuke, and Danny all rose seconds later.  
"THEY will." Enma grinned wickedly at the demon, as the final round of the battle was now about to begin...

* * *

(Title) The Kamoa Cherubim  
(Jingle) The last seven seconds of Rurouni Kenshin's "Warrior's Blue: Director's Mix"

* * *

"The Water Stone's loss doesn't bother me so much." Shadow Wayne spoke up. "I'm more of an endless destruction type of guy, anyway. What bothers me..." he trailed off, pointing a finger at Wayne. "...Is how YOU knew where I'd keep the stone within my body."  
"Because the two of you think alike." Enma smirked. "And no, in case you're wondering...he doesn't think like you. You think like him. Because you've inhabited his body for eight years, you've adapted to HIS way of thinking. Wayne can predict your EVERY move...because you ARE Wayne."  
"Bullshit...he had virtually no MIND for the past eight years!" Shadow Wayne spat out angrily.  
"Yeah, THAT explains why I was able to break free from you, doesn't it?" Wayne grinned sinisterly at the demon. "The fact that it was MY urges controlling our actions, including when we were around Aimee...hell, YOU were barely there at all during that time. I nearly ERASED YOU FROM EXISTENCE because I fell in love!"  
"He's got you there, dude." Danny joined Wayne in grinning wickedly at the demon. "Hell, you wouldn't even be ALIVE right now if you hadn't clung onto his damn BOOT when he kicked the Box Ghost's ass!"  
"And look at you now. A sex-crazed SIXTEEN year old has half-disarmed you!" Riku piped up, eliciting an angry "HEY!" from Wayne. Ignoring his best friend's outburst, he proceeded to belittle the demon even further. "And why?! Because you stole his body AND his mind! You're pathetic!"  
"SHUT UP!" Shadow Wayne roared at the top of his lungs, as white fire began to swirl around him in a vicious cyclone. "I AM NOT PATHETIC, YOU WORMS ARE! I'VE BEATEN EVERYONE WHO'S STOOD UP TO ME!"  
"Except me." Wayne smirked. "I took away one of your two trump cards."  
"Yes, you did...but you won't get ANYWHERE NEAR the other one!" Shadow Wayne laughed, sending a blast of white fire in Wayne's direction. Wayne looked horrified as the blast approached him, but at the last second a shield popped up to protect him, courtesy of Enma, who grinned wickedly over at the now-frothing Shadow Wayne.  
"Did you already forget that I can do that? Hell, it's why Riku and I weren't dead during his wedding when you surprised us with that explosion!"  
"..." Shadow Wayne scowled. "THAT'S IT! I'M GONNA START KILLING YOU ALPHABETICALLY! AND SINCE ASH IS DEAD..."  
"Then wouldn't Bloo be next?" Yusuke interjected.  
"Not if I changed my name!" Bloo piped up, in a frightened tone.  
"When did this happen?" Yusuke looked confused.  
"...Five seconds ago, when he said he'd kill us all alphabetically." Bloo admitted sheepishly.  
"**QUIT MOCKING ME!**" Shadow Wayne roared, appearing next to Bloo and grabbing him, forcefully slamming him into the Pillar of Earth twenty or thirty times until he stopped moving.  
"BLOO!" Mac shouted in grief, as the demon dropped Bloo, laughing. "My god, he's...he's..."  
Riku walked over and felt for a pulse. After finding a faint one, he sighed in relief. "Merely unconscious."  
"DAMMIT!" Shadow Wayne shouted, another swirling vortex of fire erupting around him, pushing Mac, Bloo and Riku back rather forcefully.  
"You've ALREADY lost, Shadow Wayne." Enma grinned once more. "You could have EASILY killed Bloo and you failed to even do that!"  
"YOU'RE NEXT! AND THIS TIME I'LL MAKE SURE YOU'RE DEAD!" Shadow Wayne bellowed furiously, raising the Fire Stone and preparing to blast Enma, white fire forming at the base of his right hand. Before he could fire, however, he was interrupted by an unannounced Spirit Gun. Those who were around Yusuke knew immediately, however, that he was not the one to fire it...  
"So..." Ash's voice came, as he stood, one knee touching down on the altar, blood still leaking from his stomach wound. "...What'd I miss?" He clutched his wound with his left hand.  
"ASH!" Jazz called excitedly. "YOU'RE **ALIVE!**"  
"YOU?! IMPOSSIBLE!" Shadow Wayne was beyond furious at this point.  
"You stabbed me in the stomach. It's not like you stabbed me in the damn heart..." Ash trailed off, his vision getting somewhat hazy. Shadow Wayne noticed that he was squinting in an attempt to keep his vision from blurring and laughed.  
"HA! Even if I do nothing, you'll be dead within the next half-hour!" Shadow Wayne cackled. "It appears you're still destined to DIE here, Ash Ketchum! Everything is falling into place for the Unmaker's RETURN TO GLORY!"  
"You can take that fate argument and SHOVE IT!" Ash said, wincing in pain afterward. "NOTHING is preordained, shithead!"  
"Ha..." Shadow Wayne chuckled, a sly grin forming on his face. "...Your father said the EXACT same thing, minus the obscenity...then he was murdered." as he finished saying this, both Ash's and Enma's eyes looked like they were going to fall out of their sockets.  
"What...did you say...?!" Ash looked stunned.  
"Enma knows...he was there. Weren't you, Enma?!"  
"...Shut up. **SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH.**" Enma reiterated angrily.  
"You see...Enma has LIED to you ONCE AGAIN, Ash. Big surprise, right?" Shadow Wayne smirked at the Kamoa boy. "He's known ALL along about me...about who I REALLY am!"  
"What's he talking about, Enma...?" Ash asked, his voice almost a whisper.  
"I didn't want to tell you...I didn't want you to..."  
"To WHAT?! KNOW THE TRUTH?!" Ash said, his voice back to its recent intensity. "AND YOU! STOP PUSSYFOOTING AROUND AND TELL ME!"  
"Very well...since you're about to die, I'll let you know what happened...all those years ago." Shadow Wayne smirked. "Years ago, I wasn't Shadow Wayne. I was but one of the many fragments of the Unmaker himself. Enma didn't tell you because he didn't want you to know that your father and your predecessor both FAILED to destroy me!"  
"THAT'S NOT WHY I KEPT THAT FROM HIM!" Enma bellowed angrily."HIS MOTHER DIDN'T WANT HIM GETTING INVOLVED WITH ME!"  
"And why do you suppose that is...huh?!" Shadow Wayne turned to Enma with a grin. "You LIED to his father, you LIED to his predecessor...when will you EVER tell the truth about the events that have been SHAPING THE VERY DIMENSIONAL UNIVERSE FOR THE PAST SIXTY YEARS?!"  
"They were shaping it a LOT longer than that, A—" Enma cut himself off as the demon let off a strange grin. "...And YOU know it!"  
"Really..." Shadow Wayne replied, turning back to Ash with the same grin. "It's more than just you, me, and Enma...everyone here has played their part to make this happen. Riku, Wayne, the two twerps, the robot, your teacher, your girlfriend, your former girlfriend, the retard—" he was cut off by Osaka.  
"I'm not a retard!" she angrily protested.  
"Whatever. Anyway, to continue...dear, sweet Motoko, and of course..." he trailed off, his grin widening as his eyes met a scared Jazz. "...Miss Fenton, here."  
"What...?" Jazz looked stunned, taking a step backward as her eyebrows arched. "...Me?!"  
"You ESPECIALLY." Shadow Wayne laughed, taking a step toward Jazz.  
"How did I make this happen?!"  
"Isn't it strange that you and Ash have shared so much more than he and Misty? There's a reason for you and him hitting it off so much."

"DON'T DO THIS!" Enma shouted, causing Danny to turn in shock. Shadow Wayne ignored this outburst, however, and spoke up.  
"Slowly, ever-so-subtly, Ash has been bonding with you because he can subconsciously sense the blood that flows through you." Shadow Wayne's evil grin reached its absolute peak as he pointed to Jazz, purple energy flowing from his fingertips as he walked toward the redhead. Jazz backed up to the very edge of the Altar, starting to lose her balance as she cringed at the oncoming demon.  
"Get away...!" she cried out, recoiling in horror. "Get _**AWAY!**_" she shouted, as the purple energy started to drift lazily over toward her. As it came in contact with her, she let out an ear-splitting shriek, violently thrusting backwards, arching her back in a most uncomfortable position, as Danny ferociously blasted Shadow Wayne away from her.  
"**JAZZ!**" he shouted, immediately turning back to his sister, then turning to Shadow Wayne and roaring over his sister's screams. "WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?!"  
"I've merely exposed her true self..." Shadow Wayne laughed, resting an arm on the Pillar of Water, the group watching in shock as the chest cavity Danny had formed closed immediately in response to the glow of the pillar. Ash found himself wanting to say or do something, ANYTHING, but he was completely overcome with a strange combination of rage, grief, and an insatiable curiosity to know the truth. Therefore, the Kamoa youth stayed silent, simply gazing on, his expression almost blank, causing Danny to shout out "ASH, _**DO SOMETHING!**_"  
"I...I..." Ash trailed off, his eyes widening enormously as Jazz continued to thrash about in agony, the reason for which being what caused his eyes to widen. As she thrashed, two large wings violently sprouted from her back, Jazz's blood spraying onto the pillars of Earth and Fire. Ash let out a short sputtering gasp, before speaking up again. "...WINGS?!" Everybody in the room let out an audible gasp. "You have WINGS?!"  
"At last...the third one has shown herself!" Shadow Wayne roared with laughter, pointing at Jazz. "I sped up your transformation process...this is who you really are, Jasmine Fenton! The THIRD Kamoa!"  
"KAMOA?!" Danny yelled, turning back in horror to face his sister. "...JAZZ?!"  
"..." Enma remained silent.  
"YOU!" Danny turned, tears in his eyes as he stared down Enma. "You KNEW this, didn't you?!"  
"..." Enma looked away solemnly. "I did. I said nothing. Hate me if you want."  
"I'm BEYOND hatred at this point!" Danny lividly pointed at Enma. "But beating the living HELL out of you can wait!" he turned toward Shadow Wayne and immediately tackled him furiously. "Since YOU can't wait, I'll take out all my frustration on you!" he shouted, punching the demon with a speed and ferocity unmatched thus far by anyone present. Shadow Wayne simply cackled, causing Danny to somehow hit even harder. "SHUT UP!" he shouted, as he continued to punch. Suddenly, he found himself unable to move, as two sets of arms latched on to him, both belonging to first-level Shadow Wayne clones.  
"What kept you boys?" Shadow Wayne grumbled, climbing to his feet and readying his katana. Before he could swing it at the now-defenseless ghost boy, though, he was cut off by a literal backstab from Wayne, followed by a Fist of the Mortal Flame from Riku, and ended with two Spirit Guns, one coming from Janine and the other from Yusuke. When the dust cleared, Shadow Wayne's right arm had been severed, along with his left arm and most of his body. He now lay in several pieces on the cold stone floor of the Altar. Before anyone could fire another shot, though, his body magically floated back into place, repairing every bit of damage he had sustained.  
"Watch your attacks!" Enma warned. "If you break that Fire Stone, we all die anyway!"  
"I'm not about to let that happen." Shadow Wayne grinned wickedly. "It wouldn't be NEARLY as fun to watch as it would be to personally ENACT." He pointed over at Janine and immediately sent her flying with a Devil Gun.  
"JANINE!" Wayne shouted, turning to face his sister, who had been knocked a bit 'silly', but was otherwise fine.  
" And like I was getting ready to do earlier..." Shadow Wayne trailed off, turning to Danny. he raised his katana, but Danny surprised him by ripping both clones off of the ground and slamming them viciously into the real Shadow Wayne, causing said clones to explode in a fog of Nightmare goo.  
"I figured it out...the multiple clones of you...they're ALL a part of you!"  
"Well, YEAH, that's what I had explained earlier. I hate it when you feebs don't listen!" Shadow Wayne frowned.  
"No! This isn't about the Unmaker 'forming ten thousand of you' from Nightmare Energy! Those things are ALL you! They're fragments of your power! Very kill-able fragments, at that! You duplicated yourself before you transformed!" Danny pointed an accusing finger at Shadow Wayne, who let out a small chuckle, which soon grew into a cackle.  
"You idiot...what the HELL do you think I meant?! We've already established that I'M the Unmaker!" Shadow Wayne continued to laugh. "And yes...those ARE physical manifestations of my energy count...each of those fragments have an energy level of about two hundred. Since there's ten THOUSAND of them, you do the math. Tell me...how much is ten thousand multiplied by two? That's for anyone other than you, Danny. My memories while in Wayne's shell tell me you SUCK at math."  
Riku looked horrified as he slowly answered the question. "Two...two million..."  
"That's not to mention this form I've taken, which has five hundred thousand. Unless one or two of you are holding out on me..." he glanced over toward Enma, Osaka, and Motoko. "I'm pretty sure the combined 2,500,000 is WAY beyond what any of you can achieve, even in a combined assault!" As he finished talking, he laughed again, and the gang proceeded to panic extremely, as they noticed they were now surrounded by approximately nine thousand and forty-seven –-though none of them were actually counting aside from Riku and Enma- first-level Shadow Wayne clones, which then proceeded to drift over toward the real Shadow Wayne, who laughed and said "This is your LAST chance to stop me!"  
The lot of our heroes began to kill as many of the clones as they could, but in the end they only managed about one hundred and fifty before the clones all faded into the demon. As they did so, he let out a triumphant roar, as his body once again morphed. This time, bony wings sprouted from his back, a second tail sprouted just below the first tail, only this tail was double in length, and finally, two rather large blade-like bones erupted from his elbows. As he finished transforming, he held up his right hand, looked at it, then smirked over to Enma strangely.  
"What...? What are you doing...?!" Enma looked surprised at this smirk, that surprise turned into full-on shock and amazement as a hole stretched open in the demon's right hand. Seconds later, the Fire Stone was forced outward.  
"The Balance Dimension has nearly arrived. There's no reason for me to hold ALL of the cards. It's not fun if you worms don't attempt to fight back in Act 3!" he laughed, the heroes taking note of his slightly deeper voice, tossing the Fire Stone to Enma.  
"You're planning on killing me and taking it back, aren't you?" Enma said, sweat dripping from his brow in fear, as he knew that Shadow Wayne, even with his power cut at a slight margin, FAR outclassed any of them.  
"Well...yeah. Of course I am. But I thought I'd give you a SLIVER of hope, even if it is all meaningless in the end. All things will fall to the Unmaker!" Shadow Wayne grinned. "Now who wants some of this?!"  
"We do!" Yusuke shouted, with Danny, Riku and Osaka joining him over close to Ash, who was struggling to stand up at this point, much less fight. Enma took note of this and shouted "Ash, catch!" throwing Ash the Water Stone. Ash barely managed to catch the stone, and almost immediately, the stone began to glow, reversing the flow of blood from his abdomen, allowing it to safely return to his body. As it did that, the hole in his abdomen closed up, and Ash felt stronger than ever.  
"I'm sorry..." Enma then proceeded to say. "I should have told you the truth. I wanted you to be ready for it. I hadn't wanted it to come out like this."  
"We'll talk later." Ash said sternly, stretching out his arms, then removing his jacket and his shirt, revealing his slim, hairless chest, which rose and fell to his breathing, which intensified as he gathered Spirit Energy.  
"Welcome back, Kamoa boy!" Shadow Wayne laughed. "Unfortunately, you're too late to do anything of substance!"  
"We'll see about that! Danny, Riku, Yusuke! Let's GO!" Ash shouted, leading a charge at the demon, who simply laughed once more, then effortlessly batted away Danny, the sound of bones breaking as his fist collided with the ghost boy's arm.  
"AARGH-!" Danny screamed in pain, causing Yusuke to turn.  
"Danny!" he shouted, but it was too late, that distraction had been all that Shadow Wayne had needed. His longer tail whipped around Yusuke's neck as he slammed the Spirit Detective into Riku, leaving him hands-free to fend off Ash's blows effortlessly.  
"Come on! Do that melty thing, damn you!" Ash shouted. "DIE ALREADY!" He shot Shadow Wayne point-blank in the head with a mighty Spirit Gun, but the shadow's face remained completely intact when the dust cleared. Ash realized that he'd stupidly done EXACTLY WHAT Shadow Wayne had wanted him to do, but no later than he did, Shadow Wayne's tail whipped around and grabbed hold of the Water Stone.  
"You're pathetic, Ash...to think I held ANY sort of respect for you!" Shadow Wayne frowned, punching Ash in the chest, a sickening crack resounding throughout the room as Ash landed at the very edge of the Altar. "Pretty sure that was ALL SIX of your ribs." he chuckled evilly. His laugh was cut short as Ash slowly climbed to his feet again. "Are you serious? You're getting up again after that?!"  
"I've said it before...and I'll say it again..." Ash gasped in pain. "I'll DIE if I have to in order to END YOUR ASS!"

* * *

"This is BAD!" Ratty said, from his spot outside of Oak's Laboratory, watching the fight. "That bitch can't suck it if Ash is dead!"  
"Don't you talk like that! He survived getting stabbed in the stomach, and...and..." Delia trailed off, sobbing. "WHY?! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?! WHAT KIND OF LOVING GOD WOULD ALLOW A DEMON LIKE THAT TO ROAM FREELY?!"  
"Ya ever consider that God's kind of a dick?" Ratty questioned, shrugging. "Just sayin'...cause dying HURTS. So maybe he don't care about a demon like that runnin' around and blowing shit up."  
"WHAT KIND OF SENSE DOES THAT MAKE?!" Delia shouted. "THEN WHY CREATE THE WORLD IN THE FIRST PLACE?! WHY ALLOW MY BABY TO GO THROUGH WHAT HE'S GONE THROUGH IF HE INTENDED FOR IT ALL TO END ANYWAY?!"  
"...Guess we'll find out whether God's a dick or not." Ratty sighed, looking up at the Core Dimension. "COME ON ASH, GET YOUR DEAD ASS UP AND SHITKICK THAT BITCH!"  
"..." Timmy stared up at the Core Dimension as well, before Cosmo and Wanda appeared before him.  
"What's wrong, sport?" Wanda asked.  
"...I never really saw how dangerous all this could be! Ash and the others are up there fighting for OUR lives as well as theirs! I can't sit around here anymore!"  
"THAT'S the old pepper!" Cosmo cheered. "One three-headed fire-breathing hydra coming up!" He held up his wand, before being smacked by Wanda.  
"That's NOT what he meant, Cosmo!"  
"Oww!"  
"It's time for action, you guys! I wish for a high-powered invincible suit of armor" Timmy grinned.  
"We can't do invincible, sweetie..." Wanda started to explain, but Cosmo, in a rare flash of brilliance, spoke up.  
"But nobody said anything about not being able to create a NEAR-INVINCIBLE suit!" he cheered happily, raising his wand, causing Wanda to smirk and do the same. A loud "poof" sound echoed into the night sky, and when the fairy dust cleared, Timmy was now wearing an awesome, tall gray mechanical suit of armor. At that moment, Jimmy, who had silently been standing off to the side, opened the top of his backpack, and machinery started to erupt from it and wrap itself around him. Seconds later, he was covered in an almost identical armor to Timmy's.  
"Oh YEAH..." Jimmy smirked. "Let's go rock that shadow's FACE off!"  
"I wish we were at the Altar of Balance!" Timmy shouted, and once again, Cosmo and Wanda raised their wands...

* * *

"You were an IDIOT to charge me with that stone still in your hand, Ash! You've stopped thinking...now you're just a wild beast!" Shadow Wayne chuckled, walking closer toward his arch-nemesis slowly in an entirely successful attempt to unnerve him. "...And wild beasts...need to be PUT DOWN." he had reached Ash, after batting away Riku, Janine, Osaka, and Yusuke, who were unsuccessfully attempting to defend the Kamoa teenager. He grinned wickedly, raising his foot, ready to bring it down on Ash's chest, which would more than likely have been instant death for the boy whose ribs were all broken...except for the fact that Jimmy and Timmy were now using their robot suits to drag Shadow Wayne away.  
"GET OFF OF ME!" he roared angrily. "MY WILL SHALL NOT BE DENIED!" he thrashed.  
"Ash! GET THE STONE! GET IT NOW!" Jimmy shouted at the top of his lungs.  
"We can't hold him forever!" Timmy yelled, feeling pain as one of Shadow Wayne's tails viciously whipped the armor with enough force to shatter a boulder.  
"...!" Ash's eyes widened, and he made one desperate leap, grabbing onto the Water Stone and tugging it away from Shadow Wayne's lower tail viciously. As the stone glowed, he didn't waste any time, shouting "SPIRIT GUN!" and sending the titular attack sailing right into the shadow's chest.  
"That's it! Don't give up, Ash!" shouted Misty, who had once again managed to climb the staircase leading to the Altar.  
"Give it all you've got!" Danny cheered on.  
"SHOTGUN!" Ash shouted, pelting Shadow Wayne with a widespread blast of Spirit Energy. He then followed up with a shout of "SPIRIT GUN DOUBLE!" hitting him with another two consecutive Spirit Guns.  
"Four hits!" Yusuke exclaimed.  
"Why let Ketchum have all the fun?!" Wayne smirked. He pointed his left hand at the demon and shouted "DEVIL GUN!" At that very second, Riku chimed in as well, letting loose a powerful Double Fist of the Mortal Flame, and Osaka leaped into the fray with a powerful Spirit Flare. Yusuke, grinning wickedly, leapt into the fray himself with a move none of his friends had seen yet.  
"SPIRIT WAVE!" he shouted, unleashing a giant blast of energy which merged with the other attacks, creating a large ball of energy, which then barreled through Shadow Wayne's chest cavity mere microseconds after Jimmy and Timmy had let go and cleared out of the way. Shadow Wayne let out an agonized scream as the blast ripped through him. There was no denying that the demon HAD actually felt that attack for once, as evidenced by his horrified expression when the blast had cleared, forming a rather large hole in his chest. In terror, he stumbled back toward the Pillar of Water, but it was everyone else's turn to be shocked as Enma casually walked over and unleashed a frightening shout, punching the pillar and crumbling it to dust.  
"Wha...how the HELL did you do THAT?!" Yusuke shouted in disbelief.  
"Let's save that for after this battle...after all..." Enma trailed off, a grin appearing on his face. "This fight is almost over now."  
"...You...you can't do this...Enma! Enma, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" the demon looked absolutely destroyed.  
"You saw what I did...and you HEARD it too. That sound was your immortality being taken away. You're now as mortal as the rest of us!"  
"But...but I CAN'T DIE!" the demon frantically said. "The universe can't be reborn without the Unmaker!"  
"It doesn't NEED to be reborn, Shadow Wayne! You NEVER realized that when you were in your original body!" Enma said. "And you were right about me earlier...I did NOTHING to stop Ash's father from dying. What I just did is my penance for that...because he knew you had to be stopped at ANY cost! I've made my peace, old friend...you have maybe a few minutes left of life, demon." Enma trailed off, closing his eyes and smiling. The demon stood there in horror for a few seconds, before his horrified expression turned into a frighteningly angry scowl.  
"You can't do this...YOU CAN'T!" he roared, angrily crossing his arms in front of him. As he did this, the entire Altar began to shake violently. "I WILL NOT GO QUIETLY INTO THE NIGHT!" he bellowed, as violet-colored energy began to emanate from him, causing the Altar to shake even more violently, knocking anyone still on their feet to their rears. "EVERYONE HERE DIES WITH ME!"

* * *

"What is that THING DOING?!" Aimee shouted, having joined Sam, Tucker, Jack, and Maddie out in front of FentonWorks.  
"Is he...self-destructing?!" Maddie said, her eyes widening enormously. In addition to her fear for the safety of her children and their friends, her heart was also extremely burdened by seeing Jazz's transformation.

"TRY TO STOP ME NOW, YOU LITTLE WORMS!" the shadow laughed once more. "I'LL TAKE ALL OF YOU TO HELL WITH ME!"  
The gang looked on; all but one of them had fear in their eyes. The one who didn't looked up at the monitors surrounding them, looking quickly for one destination...he saw Amity Park looming toward the top of the strange, towering room. He let off a quick smile and a wave, then stepped forward.  
"...Wayne?" Janine looked shocked as she glanced over at her brother, who continued to smile. Ignoring her, he turned to Enma after regaining his footing.  
"Enma." he acknowledged. Enma stood up and walked over to Wayne.  
"What? What are you doing?" Enma asked, though he knew, and dreaded, what was about to happen.  
"...It's been an honor to fight alongside these people." Wayne looked up again at Amity Park's monitor, smiled wider and waved, hoping that Aimee was watching what he was about to do."I want her to remember me as a hero, Enma. if she's NOT watching this, then I want you to tell her what happened here tonight...on a quick note, sorry about this." he ended by quickly punching Enma in the gut. As Enma kneeled over in pain, Wayne grabbed the remote to his ankle bomb. "But I need to make sure he DOESN'T come back this time!" he then began to walk forward in what appeared to be slow motion. Janine, seeing everything that had just happened, ran toward Wayne futilely.  
"WAYNE, STOP! DON'T DO THIS, PLEASE!" she shouted, but it was too late. Seconds later, Wayne had vanished.  
"_**NOOO-!**_" she screamed, realizing what Wayne was about to do.

* * *

Shadow Wayne cackled psychotically, looking down on Ash.  
"GAME OVER, ASH KETCHUM! YOU CAN'T FIGHT FATE! NOW HERE COMES THE FINA—" he cut himself off, a horrified expression on his face as Wayne appeared in front of him, grinning wickedly.  
"Oh YES, you CAN!" he countered, immediately latching his arms around the demon, who tried to force him off by extending his arms slightly, but Wayne would not be shaken. He wordlessly vanished, holding on to the demon still, as he rocketed toward the top of the towering structure. As he reached the top, content that he was at a safe distance, he uttered one last sentence.  
"Come on, you menace! Let's GO TO HELL TOGETHER!" Wayne looked up into the demon's eyes, frowned, and pressed the button to the remote at the exact same time that the demon began to explode, creating an enormous, encompassing explosion. Time seemed to stop for everyone who was still conscious in the room, as they stared up in horror. As the explosion slowly ended, and the smoke cleared, nothing remained...Wayne Williams had paid the ultimate price to rid the universe of his demonic shadow...

* * *

"Oh dear god..." Sam gasped, looking up at the now blank Core Dimension. "Did he...is he...?!" she turned to Aimee, who simply dropped to her knees , silent for a few seconds, before she began to cry. Loud, racking sobs filled the air of Amity Park...

* * *

"Wayne...!" Riku gasped, looking up in unimaginable horror at where his best friend had just sacrificed himself. "There had to have been another way...you didn't have to...to..." he trailed off, shakily reaching up to his face and realizing that he was in tears. Seconds later, what appeared to be a black heart dropped to the floor. A few seconds after that, the heart began to expand again. As it did, Enma let out a shout of "NO!" A few seconds even after that, Shadow Wayne fully reformed, looking as shocked as everybody else did. That shock gave way to glee, however, as he grinned wickedly, looking over the bruised and battered heroes. He was no longer in his most recent form, but had instead reverted to his original form. The only difference now was that the bony wings had remained. He buried his head in his hand and began to laugh, his laugh turning psychotic and echoing throughout the entire chamber.  
"I guess I AM immortal!" he finally spoke up. "Too bad that poor bastard wasn't." he grinned.  
"You bastard..." Riku trailed off, looking down and clenching his fists so tightly that his fingernails had broken the skin, drawing blood. "YOU BASTARD!" he reiterated, letting out a scream that was part rage and part grief as he charged the demon furiously, punching him relentlessly with a force that would topple any normal foe in seconds.

As he did this, Shadow Wayne grinned insanely. "What's the matter, Riku?! Do I _**R****EMIND YOU OF SOMEONE?!**_" He finished by swatting Riku away with a smirk.  
"Wayne killing himself was the best thing that ever happened to me! I'm hole-free and ready to make holes in ALL of YOU! Now who's next?!"  
"You're nothing but a blight on this world, demon..." came Ash's voice, his face covered in shadow as he took a step forward. As he stepped forward, the altar began to shake. "I won't forgive you for this...for _**ANYTHING YOU'VE DONE!**_" he shouted, as Spirit Energy began to flow mightily from him, lighting up the Altar itself like a Christmas Tree. Suddenly lightning began to strike in the background. He growled, tears forming in his eyes as the air around him began to get wavy. As the air itself continued to distort, time seemed to slow down. Ash looked like he had just hiccupped as he continued to let out a frightening growl. He felt something within his body...something begging to be let out into the open, and in his current mood, he was happy to oblige. As he let go of everything around him, his hair flashed a bright blonde color. "I'll...rip...you...to...SHREDS...!" he growled out, his hair flashing back and forth between the new blonde color and his original black. Suddenly, the rumbling going on around them intensified, and Ash let out a scream of rage, his hair finally switching over truly to the new blonde color. As he did this, his Spirit Energy turned into...something else. Instead of a blue color, it was now as gold as his thick, wavy locks were. Ash finally stopped growling, turning to Shadow Wayne with a look saying "You're DEAD, pal."  
Enma gasped in surprise, his shock turning to a look of amazement. "...The Kamoa...Cherubim!"  
"Kamoa Cherubim?" Jimmy asked. "What's that?"  
"You're about to find out." Enma said, a smirk forming on his face as he planted his feet on the ground, ready to watch, and sure enough...seconds later, Ash, in his new form, charged Shadow Wayne, determined to put a stop to his madness and once and for all save the Dimensional Universe...  
"_**LET'S END THIS!**_"


	48. Victory!

PokeWing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 48: Victory!  
A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

Nope. No disclaimer here. Watch the fight, plzthx.

* * *

"GAME OVER, ASH KETCHUM! YOU CAN'T FIGHT FATE! NOW HERE COMES THE FINA—" he cut himself off, a horrified expression on his face as Wayne appeared in front of him, grinning wickedly.  
"Oh YES, you CAN!" he countered, immediately latching his arms around the demon, who tried to force him off by extending his arms slightly, but Wayne would not be shaken. He wordlessly vanished, holding on to the demon still, as he rocketed toward the top of the towering structure. As he reached the top, content that he was at a safe distance, he uttered one last sentence.  
"Come on, you menace! Let's GO TO HELL TOGETHER!" Wayne looked up into the demon's eyes, frowned, and pressed the button to the remote at the exact same time that the demon began to explode, creating an enormous, encompassing explosion. Time seemed to stop for everyone who was still conscious in the room, as they stared up in horror. As the explosion slowly ended, and the smoke cleared, nothing remained...Wayne Williams had paid the ultimate price to rid the universe of his demonic shadow...

* * *

"Wayne...!" Riku gasped, looking up in unimaginable horror at where his best friend had just sacrificed himself. "There had to have been another way...you didn't have to...to..." he trailed off, shakily reaching up to his face and realizing that he was in tears. Seconds later, what appeared to be a black heart dropped to the floor. A few seconds after that, the heart began to expand again. As it did, Enma let out a shout of "NO!" A few seconds even after that, Shadow Wayne fully reformed, looking as shocked as everybody else did. That shock gave way to glee, however, as he grinned wickedly, looking over the bruised and battered heroes. He was no longer in his most recent form, but had instead reverted to his original form. The only difference now was that the bony wings had remained. He buried his head in his hand and began to laugh, his laugh turning psychotic and echoing throughout the entire chamber.  
"I guess I AM immortal!" he finally spoke up. "Too bad that poor bastard wasn't." he grinned.

* * *

"You're nothing but a blight on this world, demon..." came Ash's voice, his face covered in shadow as he took a step forward. As he stepped forward, the altar began to shake. "I won't forgive you for this...for ANYTHING YOU'VE DONE!" he shouted, as Spirit Energy began to flow mightily from him, lighting up the Altar itself like a Christmas Tree. Suddenly lightning began to strike in the background. He growled, tears forming in his eyes as the air around him began to get wavy. As the air itself continued to distort, time seemed to slow down. Ash looked like he had just hiccupped as he continued to let out a frightening growl. He felt something within his body...something begging to be let out into the open, and in his current mood, he was happy to oblige. As he let go of everything around him, his hair flashed a bright blonde color. "I'll...rip...you...to...SHREDS...!" he growled out, his hair flashing back and forth between the new blonde color and his original black. Suddenly, the rumbling going on around them intensified, and Ash let out a scream of rage, his hair finally switching over truly to the new blonde color. As he did this, his Spirit Energy turned into...something else. Instead of a blue color, it was now as gold as his thick, wavy locks were. Ash finally stopped growling, turning to Shadow Wayne with a look saying "You're DEAD, pal."  
Enma gasped in surprise, his shock turning to a look of amazement. "...The Kamoa...Cherubim!"

* * *

"You're about to find out." Enma said, a smirk forming on his face as he planted his feet on the ground, ready to watch, and sure enough...seconds later, Ash, in his new form, charged Shadow Wayne, determined to put a stop to his madness and once and for all save the Dimensional Universe...  
"_**LET'S END THIS!**_"

* * *

And now...the conclusion.

* * *

(Title) Victory!  
(Jingle) The first five seconds of the unnamed sad music from Yu YuHakusho

* * *

As Ash charged, time slowed down immediately around him. As he ran toward Shadow Wayne, various short flashbacks of the real Wayne played in his mind.  
"I have opened THE DIMENSIONAL RIFT!" came the first, of the point where this whole adventure had started. Then, another, after another, and so on...  
"You're a lousy Spirit Detective. You're going to fail everybody you befriend."  
"The world is dying. Humans have corrupted it for years upon years." Then, the next one that came to his mind was more recent...  
"Now I have a reason to change...a reason to do good in this world..."  
Ash's eyes widened.  
"A reason to do good in this world...good in this world...good in this world..." his words echoed. As tears formed in Ash's eyes, he let out a shriek of rage and more energy began to explode from him as he stopped in his tracks.  
"The new power's getting to him...DON'T LET IT CONSUME YOU, ASH!" Enma shouted.  
Ash shouted at the top of his lungs, as the golden energy hid him from anybody's sight. He then stepped forward slowly as one more memory flashed through his mind, this time of Aimee...  
"What have you done, Ash?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE-DONE-DONE?!" her voice echoed as Ash finally reached his target, then with ferocity that hadn't been seen by human eyes ever before, Ash laid an enormously powerful right hook at Shadow Wayne, causing him to fly backward, spinning violently as he collided with the Pillar of Fire, causing it to crumble into dust. Amazingly, he didn't stop there. He continued on into the abyss, falling backward silently. Ash stared with pure malice in his eyes as he waited all of an entire second before jumping after the demon, with a shout of "**I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU YET, GOD DAMN IT!**" Seconds later, the gang all witnessed Shadow Wayne's form flying upward at breakneck speed. Seconds later, they witnessed Ash appearing above him and sending him hurtling back down to the Altar. As he impacted, a giant portion of the stone slab was forever ruined. Ash landed and proceeded to do the same groin/stomach combo he and Riku had both done earlier that day. He snarled furiously, kicking Shadow Wayne in the mouth to end it. The demon cried out in extreme agony.  
"If you ARE immortal..." Ash snarled viciously. "Then I'll torture you UNTIL THE END OF TIME!" He then proceeded to rapidly stomp Shadow Wayne in the abdomen, repeatedly screaming "_**I HATE YOU!**_" over and over again, until his voice had gone hoarse. Mac, Timmy, and Jimmy all averted their eyes, for the sight was extremely gruesome. Ash now had the Nightmare Goo that formerly comprised the demon's stomach splattered all over the ground around him. He would have finished the job right then and there, had the ground not started to rumble. The entire group realized in horror what was happening, as a large, jutting blue crystalline continent appeared and anchored itself to the Core Dimension. Seeing that Ash was distracted by this, Shadow Wayne weakly grabbed at the Water Stone. As his fingers brushed against it, the stone glowed faintly, healing his injuries. With renewed strength, he made a more successful grab at the Water Stone, ripping it out of Ash's hands and immediately eating it once more. This action alerted Ash to attention. Ash started to kick Shadow Wayne again, but the demon swept his feet out from under him quickly. He jumped to his feet and sprinted toward the Balance Dimension. Ash jumped back to his feet as well and started to run after him. "OH NO YOU DON'T! **GET BACK HERE, I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU!**"  
"Too bad, Ash Ketchum!" he laughed, turning around and sending Ash flying back with a Devil Gun. He turned back around with an insane laugh. "I win! I WIN!" he laughed, running into the Balance Dimension with a shout of "Victory goes to the Unma—" being cut off rather abruptly and violently with a powerful fist to the face. He flew backward into Ash, knocking both of them to the ground. The rest of the gang stared on in amazement at the man who stood beyond the thin layer of fog that separated the two dimensions. Riku and Enma, in particular, showed great amazement. The man who stood before them was of moderate physique, seemingly. His left hand rested in the pocket of his long, white pants, which appeared to be his only visible article of clothing. His long, incredibly spiky red hair blew in the wind created by the flow of energy. His green eyes stared intently onward at the demon who had been floored just now by his punch. After a few seconds of silence, he spoke.  
"…Well met, Riku. It's been a long time."  
"…Master?!"Riku looked stunned.  
"_ZENKI?!_"Enma exclaimed.  
"Hello Enma."Zenki smirked, turning his head toward Enma. "It appears our business together has not yet concluded."  
"This is indeed fortunate." Enma retorted. "Now that shadow doesn't stand a chance!"  
"I'm afraid you're wrong, dear Enma." Shadow Wayne laughed, climbing to his feet. "He CAN'T leave that dimension now. He won't be able to for another year! No one can enter or leave that dimension!"  
"Wait, then how the hell are you able to come and go at will?!" Danny protested.  
"How? How? I'll tell you HOW! Because I am GOD!"  
"Wrong." Zenki countered angrily. "What YOU are is a mass of energy given human form because of those Spirit Stones! You owe your current existence to those things! Had you not gotten your hand on the Water Stone when you did, you'd be dead…which is exactly how I arranged it."  
"WHAT?!"Enma shouted.  
"That's right. I made sure the Spirit Stone of Water was relocated." Zenki smirked, that smirk soon turning into a frown as he continued. "I was hoping to draw you out of Wayne so I could make sure you were totally eradicated. In order to do that, I relocated the Spirit Stones two years ago. I placed the Water Stone in the farthest reaches of the Ghost Zone, while simply dropping the Fire Stone off in the Far Frozen. Vlad Masters played right into my hand in helping to bring about your death here today. When you were beaten in the future, as luck would have it, you were sent into the farthest reaches of the Ghost Zone. To be honest, in retrospect, hiding the stone there was a longshot. I hadn't counted on events unfurling as they have. I also hadn't counted on Wayne actually sacrificing his life to stop you… it is… regrettable that things came to that." He looked down for a minute, and then stared back at the shadow. "Regardless, your death has arrived, demon. Either you can walk in here again and be wasted by me…" he trailed off, leaving Ash to finish his sentence.  
"Or you can stay out here and face ME!" he growled, raising his right index finger.  
"Zenki…WHY DID YOU DO THIS?!"Enma shouted. "WHY DID YOU GIVE THE UNMAKER THE SPIRIT STONES?!"  
"I just told you…to bring about his ultimate end." Zenki explained calmly. "Our goal is to finish the fight, Enma…you KNOW that. You GAVE us that goal."  
"I DIDN'T MEAN FOR YOU TO HELP THE GOD DAMN ENEMY!" Enma protested furiously. "I CAN'T LET YOU GET BY WITH THIS! THIS IS BEYOND TREASON!"  
"I don't care." Zenki stated flatly. "That thing will die, and I'll make sure that the Unmaker can NEVER resurrect! if that requires becoming your enemy...then so be it."  
"I dunno..." Danny interjected suddenly. "Morally, it's wrong as all hell. But I get his logic in doing this. The Unmaker's an unstoppable force of death and destruction, right? It only makes sense to do whatever's necessary to keep him in check."  
"You're unwise to talk about me like I'm not even here!" Shadow Wayne growled angrily, starting to take a step before Danny, determined to forever silence the ghost boy, but he felt his right arm being held in Ash's vice-like grip.  
"What are you...?" he started to say, but Ash spoke up quickly and angrily.  
"SHUT UP." Ash growled. "You've lost, here and now. And if you even THINK about trying to self-destruct again I will torture you even more than I did in our last fight! Is killing things all you know how to do?! You've killed many people to get to where you're at now!" Ash then kicked Shadow Wayne in the back as hard as he could, simultaneously letting go of the demon's hand. The demon went flying forward into the Balance Dimension, where Zenki let out a powerful kick, spinning him around and sending him right back into Ash's waiting fist. He stopped dead in his tracks as he hit Ash, starting to drop to his knees, but Ash refused him this grace, grabbing him and hefting him off of his feet instead. "And now..." he trailed off, noticing the demon seemed a bit distracted. He shook him violently. "**LOOK AT ME!** Was it worth it?! WAS IT?! I'm stronger than you! Besides, even if I wasn't here...Zenki there would be wasting your ass! You FAILED! Everyone here has been willing to throw their lives away so I could do what I'm doing now: killing you and putting a stop to this madness!"  
"You haven't killed me yet." Shadow Wayne snarled. "So put your money where your mouth is!" he ended his angry exclamation by kicking Ash in the groin, causing him to let go. he followed this up with a mighty Devil Gun, sending Ash for the umpteenth time that night onto the edge of the Altar. He grinned wickedly, looking around the room. "NONE of you here are strong enough to kill me. Even Ash here, who WON'T because he doesn't have what it takes to end a life."  
"You DO realize he's killed before, right?" Enma interjected. "He destroyed Vexus a month ago."  
"Yes, congratulations on pointing out that he killed a soulless robot." Shadow Wayne laughed. "Killing someone who CAN think and feel...it's a little different, isn't it, Enma?"  
"I won't deny that. It's why Ash never did kill you while you were still inside Wayne. But it's different now. You CAN feel pain, because you are now, in fact, a body."  
"Thanks for reinforcing my point." Shadow Wayne piped up, smirking.  
"I wasn't done." Enma frowned. "However...you don't even have your own soul. Your soul is simply the Unmaker's, split up into one of many fragments. That heart you grew back from...that was a physical manifestation of that demon's soul...the Nightmare Heart. When a person dies, their soul manifests in transparent form. When Wayne self-destructed, you didn't manifest because you don't have a soul. You are simply bound to that heart. When it dies...you'll TRULY be gone. You refer to yourself as the Unmaker, but did you not once even wonder why I never paid you that courtesy?"  
"..." Shadow Wayne frowned, anger evident in his eyes.  
"It's because you AREN'T the Unmaker. You're merely a shell for his consciousness." Enma smirked, that smirk widening and becoming toothy as he noticed the anger on the demon's face intensifying. "Spirit World keeps records on EVERY person in the Dimensional Universe. And do you know what we have on you?!"  
"..." Shadow Wayne growled, a frightening snarl on his face.  
"NOTHING." Enma continued. "You don't even EXIST in our archives. All you are is some obscene energy-based hybrid of Wayne and the Unmaker. You wanted to get out of Wayne and find the Unmaker not to give him back his body...but to get one of your own! You want to be your own person and not be defined by the soul that you now possess!"  
"SHUT UP!" Shadow Wayne roared, a massive amount of violet-colored energy erupting from his body as he pointed his left finger at Enma. "How DARE you try to psychoanalyze me!"  
"What you WANT isn't a bad goal, how you've gone about trying to get it, however... well, you'll never get it now. Somehow you've evolved a consciousness past what the Unmaker has instilled into that Nightmare Heart. The irony of this whole situation is that you could have avoided all this unnecessary bloodshed by simply ASKING ME."  
"He's right, you know." Zenki grinned wickedly. "You don't even have your OWN SOUL."  
"YOU SHUT UP TOO! DON'T YOU MOCK ME ANYMORE! I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!" he bellowed , his shouts echoing throughout the large room. He turned to Ash, who had since walked over to his jacket and shirt. "DON'T IGNORE ME!"  
"I'm not." Ash countered sternly. "You're about to get my FULL ATTENTION." He finished, holding up his Soul Sword and anchoring the sheath to his back. As he did this, he turned his head, staring down Shadow Wayne with a cocky look on his face. "I don't have what it takes to kill something, eh? **LET'S FIND OUT.**" He then drew the Soul Sword from its sheath and brought it to his side with a loud roar, as the golden energy crackled around his feet, swirling up into his body instead of the blade. His left hand drew away from the sword, the Rift Sword materializing in it as he grinned evilly. He brought the two weapons to rest at his side, as the golden energy now distributed equally among the two swords. Shadow Wayne gazed on for a few seconds, before shouting "So, it's a final standoff, eh Ketchum?! I'm game!" he laughed, bringing both of his hands to his chest, palms outstretched, as he held them there, a large ball of fire began to form. "Hey Zenki, remember this technique?! I used it to crash Riku's wedding!"  
"The Phoenix Flare! Ultimate attack versus ultimate attack!" Enma gasped.  
"Hey Enma..." Danny trailed off. "Don't think I've forgiven you by speaking to you casually like this, but uh... what will happen to everybody that ISN'T controlling either of those attacks when one or both of them go off?"  
"Oh, that's easy. If Shadow Wayne's Phoenix Flare happens to explode, we all DIE." Enma answered casually. "Guess the big man upstairs is ultimately going to call this one..."  
"Uh uh, SCREW THAT." Danny said. "We decide our OWN fates!"  
"I'm with Danny on that one." Yusuke smirked, raising his right index finger and charging a Spirit Gun.  
"Fate doesn't decide things for me either!" Janine chimed in, bringing Ash's old Soul Sword to her side to do her own Spirit Slash.  
"Humans aren't mere playthings!" Riku shouted, prepping himself for a Sword of the Mortal Flame.  
Shadow Wayne laughed as the flaming mass grew to its full size. "Maybe you're right, Enma! Maybe I'm not real! But this thing IS! And if it kills you, then it WON'T MATTER!" he cackled. Ash gritted his teeth, knowing that his new attack hadn't finished charging.

* * *

"COME ON, ASH! YOU CAN DO IT!" Delia cheered on at the top of her lungs.  
"I thought you didn't want his ass fighting." Ratty commented.  
"He doesn't have a choice now, does he?"  
"Guess not...DAYUMN, win or lose, this is gonna be one AWESOME Mexican standoff."  
"You retarded rodent, my son won't be beaten! COME ON, ASH!" Delia shouted once more.

* * *

"This sucks! How the hell are we supposed to know what's going on up there?!" Dash threw up his arms in frustration.  
"Aren't you at all concerned that Wayne most likely just DIED?!" Valerie looked a bit perturbed. "He was a son of a bitch, but he did just sacrifice himself to save all of us!"  
"..." Dash stared up into the sky. "...If that fight's still going on, then I hope Ketchum's kicking that THING'S ass."

* * *

Shadow Wayne cackled insanely, his eyes and mouth psychotically wide as he launched the Phoenix Flare. At that moment, Ash brought his swords together, raised them above his head, and let loose with a brand new version of his Spirit Slash.  
"_**NEO SPIRIT SLASH!**_" he roared at the top of his lungs, letting loose with a powerful blade of golden energy, which met at a point equidistant between them, a powerful burst of wind following and pushing back everybody else. Enma stared on, before realizing something horrifying.  
"He's got the Water Stone again! If you waste him, WE ALL DIE ANYWAY!"  
"THAT'S RIGHT, ENMA! EITHER WAY, I WIN!"  
"Oh no you don't!" Riku shouted. "Everyone, concentrate your fire on Shadow Wayne! Blow that Spirit Stone right out of his arm!" The second he finished saying this, every person who had been charging an attack let loose toward Shadow Wayne's left arm, but he surprised them all by holding it out and projecting some sort of reflective barrier and bouncing all of their attacks back to them. They all let out screams, being flung nearly over the edge of the Altar. In Janine's case, she had been flung over the edge, but was saved by the sprouting of her wings, which she then used to get back to solid ground and prepare another Spirit Slash. At this point, Danny prepared a Ghostly Wail, cutting loose and attacking Shadow Wayne, who simply laughed as though the Wail had had no effect on him whatsoever, and to anyone standing there, that's exactly what effect the Ghostly Wail had. Shadow Wayne simply retaliated by pointing his left index finger at Danny and sending him flying with a Devil Gun. At that moment, Misty slapped the ground in an attempt to use alchemy to snare him, much like she had before. However, Shadow Wayne surprised her by floating off of the ground to avoid her trap. he then made her pay for what he considered to be insolence by sending her flying with a Devil Gun, just as he had with Danny before her. As she hit the ground with a thud, Janine abandoned charging her Spirit Slash to run over and help her back up.  
"Thanks." she said.  
"No problem. Let's kick this thing's ass and go home!" Janine smirked, flashing a thumbs up.  
"Right!" Misty returned the smirk, clapping her hands immediately and sending spike-shaped rocks flying at Shadow Wayne, who laughed and simply batted them away.  
"WEAKLING! THE MEN ARE FIGHTING, JUST CRAWL IN A CORNER AND GIVE UP!"  
"PISS OFF!" Janine shouted back angrily, quickly charging another Spirit Slash. At this time, Yusuke and Riku let loose with a Spirit Shotgun and a Death Ray, respectively. Both raced toward the shadow, who simply turned around and reflected the attacks as if they were nothing, and for the umpteenth time, Yusuke and Riku went flying. He laughed even more insanely as the Phoenix Flare began to push the Neo Spirit Slash back slowly toward Ash, winning the war of attrition.  
"WHAT'S WRONG, KAMOA BOY?! YOU'RE SO MUCH STRONGER THAN ME! WHY DON'T YOU HURRY UP AND FINISH THIS?! OH, THAT'S RIGHT, BECAUSE YOU KNOW WHAT'LL HAPPEN IF YOU FINISH ME OFF NOW! WELL, SINCE YOUR FRIENDS WILL NEVER GET THAT STONE OUT OF ME, I GUESS WE'LL CALL IT A DRAW!" Shadow Wayne cackled maniacally.  
"COME ON, ASH! FORGET ABOUT THE WATER STONE AND FINISH HIM!" came the voice of Ash's visitor within his head.  
'But if I kill him now...!' Ash responded mentally.  
"You have the power to stop him! Now USE IT!"  
'I CAN'T!'  
"THEN EVERYONE YOU KNOW AND LOVE IS GOING TO DIE!"  
'THEY'RE DEAD EITHER WAY! If I lose the struggle we die...if I win it, I break the Water Stone and we die anyway!' "WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!" Ash finished his thought out loud.  
"THE ONLY THING YOU CAN DO...DIE!" Shadow Wayne roared, grinning psychotically as he extended his right hand even further, pushing the Phoenix Flare further toward Ash. "BY THE WAY, THIS THING IS ON A TIMER! IN THREE MINUTES, YOU DIE ANYWAY!"  
"He's right! The Phoenix Flare is essentially a giant flaming bomb!" Zenki explained. "It explodes after five minutes if it hasn't already detonated! Two have already passed!"  
"Do something, Master!" Riku turned frantically toward Zenki. "You can't come through, but your energy CAN! You're the only one who can help Ash now!"  
"..." Zenki looked down. "The energy disruption could cause the balance to go out of whack and destroy the universe anyway. I'm sorry Riku..." he looked away from his student. "In here...I can do nothing to him."  
"NO...!" Riku said, looking over at Osaka with a horrified expression.  
"THAT'S RIGHT, RIKU! YOUR MASTER'S POWERLESS TO SAVE YOU NOW! AND YOU'RE TOO WEAK TO DO THE JOB YOURSELF!"  
"Riku...what do we do?!" Osaka looked frightened as she gazed into her husband's eyes.  
"..." Riku returned her horrified stare.  
"Ash...!" Misty said, her expression matching Riku and Osaka's. "No! DON'T GIVE UP! YOU CAN DO IT! DON'T LET HIM WIN!"

"..." Ash looked back at her, then glanced at the unconscious Jazz, then gritted his teeth and managed to force back the Phoenix Flare a little, snarling at his archenemy as he did so. "I'M NOT GIVING UP! I WILL KILL YOU!"  
"TWO MINUTES!" Enma shouted, a frightened look on his face as well.  
"YOU'RE OUT OF TIME!" Shadow Wayne roared with laughter. "SO AGAIN...WE'LL CALL THIS A DRAW! HERE'S TO A MAGNIFICENT OPPONENT!" Shadow Wayne lifted his left hand as if he were toasting Ash.  
"THIS ISN'T OVER! NOT YET!" Ash retorted, pushing the Phoenix Flare back even farther.  
"ASH KETCHUM!" Zenki shouted. "PUSH IT OUT OF THE DIMENSION! THE SHIELD WILL KEEP IT FROM KILLING ALL OF YOU!"  
"But then what'll happen to us AFTERWARD?!" Enma said frantically. "Ash poured ALL of his energy into that attack! Shadow Wayne dumped maybe eighty percent! While Ash could easily beat him, but he'd be POWERLESS afterward!"  
"..." Zenki remained silent, staring on at the battle.  
"Besides, what about whatever dimension it ends up in?!" Enma continued. "The dimension won't be destroyed, but there will be lives lost!"  
"IT'S WORTH THE RISK, ENMA! YOU YOURSELF ONCE SAID TO 'FINISH THE FIGHT' NO MATTER THE CONSEQUENCES!" Zenki shouted at the top of his lungs. Suddenly, the ground began to quake. At that moment, Yusuke, Jimmy, Timmy, Danny, Janine, Misty, Mac, and Bloo all sprang to action, unleashing their best moves.  
"SPIRIT WAVE!"  
"SPIRIT SLASH!"  
"DOUBLE LASER!"  
"GHOSTLY WAIL!"  
"BLOOMERANG!"  
"ROCK SPIRE!"  
As all of the attacks raced for Shadow Wayne, he cackled once more and hammered them away as though they were mere first-level attacks. He then roared at the top of his lungs, his very ENERGY sending the lot of them flying near or over the edge. Enma suddenly turned to Motoko, who hadn't said or done anything since arriving in the Altar. "MOTOKO, DO SOMETHING!"  
"I...I..." she looked genuinely afraid. "I CAN'T! EVEN IF I COULD, I CAN'T GET ANYWHERE NEAR HIM WITH HIS ENERGY SPIKING LIKE THAT!"  
"ONE MINUTE! THIS IS THE END!" he laughed.

* * *

"JESUS H. SNAPPIN' CHRIST!" Ratty shouted, his fur very wet from having peed himself just seconds ago. "THIS IS IT! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"  
"NO! THIS CAN'T BE THE END!" Delia retorted. "ASH, YOU'RE STRONGER THAN THAT BODY SNATCHER! NOW WASTE THE HELL OUT OF HIM! PLEASE!"

* * *

"The sky's lit up like the Fourth of July!" Sam shouted. "That purple energy...that's not Ash's, is it?!"  
"I'd have to guess it's that THING..." Tucker said, shaking his head as the rumbling intensified, and now it had spread across all dimensions.  
"NO! YOU HAVE TO WIN, ASH!" Maddie shouted into the sky. "EVERYBODY IN THE UNIVERSE IS COUNTING ON YOU!" Suddenly, Aimee stood up, a sad smile on her face.  
"It's all over..."

* * *

"This is bad...!" Kurama said, wide-eyed at what he could see before him.  
"No...really?! You couldn't tell by the shaking?!" Shizuru shouted, as they stood with Kuwabara, Yomi, and Tomo on top of a hill outside of Mushiyori City. "Why the hell ARE we shaking?!"  
"The dimension anchored to the Core Dimension is where ALL life was born from! When that attack explodes, it will create a disruption in the Balance Dimension that will set off a CATASTROPHIC chain reaction." Kurama said, his eyes refusing to lower even for a second. "That chain reaction will end ALL LIFE!"  
"Shouldn't we be up THERE with Urameshi and Ketchum, then?!" Kuwabara shouted.  
"We can't get up there...they're the only ones with the means to get in and out of rifts!"  
"THEN WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO?!" Kuwabara shouted.  
"YEAH!" Tomo chimed in.  
"OH SHUT UP, TOMO! I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M GOING TO DIE HERE LIKE THIS!" Yomi griped.  
"EXPLOSIONS! I FEEL LIKE I'M IN AN ACTION MOVIE!" Tomo let out a whoop, seemingly having lost her mind, or rather, being extremely oblivious to what exactly was about to happen.

* * *

"COME ON ALREADY, ASH! YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN SAVE US FROM A MELTDOWN OF CATASTROPHIC PROPORTIONS!" Botan shouted into the crystal ball from which she could see the fight, from the comfort and safety of inside Professor Oak's laboratory –at least, one of the more stable rooms there currently—as Brock bit his fingernails in anxiety.  
"THIS is what my buddy's been doing for over a YEAR now?!"  
"He may not be doing it for much longer..." Botan trailed off. "THIRTY SECONDS, ASH!"

* * *

"THIS IS IT! Enma shouted. "KISS OUR ASSES GOODBYE!"  
"THAT'S RIGHT! WE ALL FRY!" Shadow Wayne laughed.  
"It can't end this way...**IT CAN'T!**" Ash shouted, not noticing what was going on behind him...

* * *

Jazz finally roused to consciousness, suddenly feeling an intense energy welling from within her that she had never felt before in her life.  
"Wh...wha..."  
"TOO BAD, ASH! YOU WERE A REAL CONTENDER! NOW **FAREWELL!**" he shouted, but just then, his eyes widened in horror as he noticed that Jazz had awakened, a MASSIVE ball of Spirit Energy forming at her right index finger's tip.  
"_**NOOOOOOOO-!**_" she screamed at the top of her lungs, firing a blast that not only caused Shadow Wayne's energy to stop spiking, it caused him to stumble back. Before he could recover, Motoko was on top of the situation already, slicing off his left hand and causing it to dissolve. She then grabbed the Water Stone and turned to Shadow Wayne with a smirk. Shadow Wayne gaped at Motoko in open-mouth horror as she said "I don't fear you anymore, DEMON. ASH!"  
"NOW, KETCHUM! DO IT NOW!" Zenki roared, and Ash didn't need to be told again. With a roar loud enough to cause the heavens themselves to tremble, he pushed forward with all of his might, easily batting back the Phoenix Flare. Shadow Wayne stared on, realizing his time on the mortal coil had finally run out. With one final, horrified stare, he let out his own heaven-trembling scream as his own attack began to disintegrate him fully. His final scream echoed as long as possible as he broke down into his core component, the Nightmare Heart, which then was split in two by the Neo Spirit Slash and proceeded immediately to dissolve into a fine mist, fading away forever...Shadow Wayne was no more. The Phoenix Flare then exited the Core Dimension, exploding relatively harmlessly in another undescribed dimension. The quaking slowed to a rumbling, then stopped altogether. As the rumbling came to a complete halt, Ash sighed and collapsed to the ground, his golden hair reverting back to its former black color. Everyone stared on in complete shock.  
"Is...is it OVER...?!" Jimmy asked.  
"Yes! YES!" Enma shouted, letting out a whoop of joy. "He destroyed Shadow Wayne! Ya-HOO-!"  
"It's finally over..." Danny sighed.  
"Wayne, You've been avenged, my friend..." Riku 's head dropped, smiling.  
Everyone wordlessly gathered around Ash, looking down proudly on their friend. From over in the Balance Dimension, Zenki crossed his arms and smirked.  
"...Well Ken...you were right. He IS something else."

* * *

"That energy's gone...! HE DID IT, **HE DID IT!**" Sam cheered, grabbing Tucker and giving him a painful noogie.  
"OW! HEY! CUT IT OUT SAM!"

* * *

"HE WON, RATTY, HE WON! MY SON BEAT THAT DEMON!" Delia cheered, pulling Ratty into a tight embrace.  
"OW! Bitch, I don't hug on the first date!"

* * *

"It's over..." Botan sighed in relief, then looked up. "Kensuke...were you watching your successor?"  
"Who the hell's Kensuke?" Brock looked puzzled.  
"I'll tell you later. Unless you feel like we've got the time for me to explain now..."  
"Uh...sure." Brock shrugged.

* * *

Ash looked up at his friends and let out a weak chuckle. He knew that without all of them, he would not have won the day, including the person who had given his very life to make his transformation possible...  
"Wayne..." Ash sighed, looking down toward the blackened Rift Bracelet on the ground...


	49. Guardian Angel

PokeWing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 49: Guardian Angel  
A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

Do I need to spell it out for you assholes again? FIC SRS BZNS. NO DISCLAIMER TODAY.

* * *

Ash slowly climbed to his feet, still looking down. As he glanced up, his eyes didn't fall onto anyone standing around him, but to the unmoving Jenny in the corner. Her eyes no longer sparked with any sort of life, and her face looked even more cold than it ever had before...he brushed aside the friends who stood before him and stumbled over to Jenny.  
"Hey! Jen! Get up! We did it, we beat that bastard!" Ash's voice seemed to echo sadly throughout the chamber. "...Jenny? is she...?"  
"Oh god..." Yusuke walked over, bent down, and started waving his hand in front of her face. "She's not responding...Ash...she's dead."  
"No...NO! NO NO NO!" Ash shouted, punching the Pillar of Earth that Jenny was leaning against and crumbling it to dust. "This...this can't be! She's been with me longer than anybody else! She and I were a team from the very beginning! She can't be..." Ash trailed off, tears in his eyes.  
"Damn you, Shadow Wayne...even in DEATH you mock us!" Riku said angrily.  
"Ash..." Enma said gently, then glanced over at the Balance Dimension, his expression growing stern. "ASH!" he shouted, slapping the Kamoa boy. "Jenny's death is a horrible tragedy, and it NEVER would have happened if it weren't for me hiding things from you! I'm a bastard, okay?! But you have a job to finish! Don't let her sacrifice be in vain! She would have wanted you to finish this!"  
"..." Ash remained silent, for a second, reaching into Jenny's exposed head and grabbing her control chip. "I'll finish things up for you..." he said, slowly drying his eyes and turning around, a determined expression on his face, knowing what needed to be done...

* * *

(Title) Guardian Angel  
(Jingle) 0:35-0:41 of Aura's theme from .hack/Infection

* * *

"Ash..." Misty and Jazz called out simultaneously.  
"Ash..." Enma echoed. "I know you probably hate me, and I deserve every ounce of that hatred... but if you've ever believed me before, then listen to me here. In the very center of the Altar of Balance is a very small hole, just wide enough for you to stick in the Rift Sword. When you do this, the Core Dimension's energy will be going HAYWIRE."  
"Haywire as in...?" Riku looked confused.  
"Like, the energy will seal itself in the Core Dimension." Enma explained.  
"Oh. Well that doesn't sound too b—" Danny started to chime in, but Enma cut him off again.  
"The Balance Dimension will vanish once more, and with no flowing energy to sustain it...the Core Dimension will EXPLODE. Granted, the barrier around this dimension will keep it from harming any other dimension, but anyone trapped inside will UNQUESTIONABLY die."  
"So are you saying I have to throw away my life to send away the Balance Dimension?" Ash asked.  
"Not if you can make it back to the Dimensional Elevator in thirty minutes." Enma explained.  
"Then you know what I have to say to that, right?" Ash smirked. "Get going. I'll take care of this."  
"Ash!" Misty started to argue, but Ash held up his right hand. "You can't do this on your own! For Christ's sake, you can barely WALK right now!"  
"I'LL stay." Jazz surprised Misty by speaking up so boldly.  
"But Jazz...you just..."  
"It's okay. I'm fine now. They took some getting used to, but I think I'm a little familiar with these wings now."  
"Trust me. You're not." Ash said. "It STILL kind of hurts to bring those things out."

"Regardless of that..." Jazz trailed off. "You might need someone with...aerial support."  
"...I can't fight you on this, can I?" Ash said, dejectedly.  
"The Water Stone's nearly tapped out...it needs to be recharged in the Energy Vault in the basement of Spirit World's castle." Enma interrupted. "But there SHOULD be just enough energy to heal you to the point where you won't have to stumble around." He then held up the Water Stone, the stone's glow surrounding Ash and then quickly fading. As it did so, the orb turned clear, with no indication that it had ever held any magic in it. As Ash looked up at Enma, he muttered a word of thanks, then proceeded to walk over to the very center of the altar, circling around in a standing position to make absolutely sure it was the center.  
"Wait." Enma said, before holding up his arms, more specifically, his sleeves, which he looked over at the left cuff, which was missing a cufflink. "Do you remember when you died and ran out of time to be revived naturally?"  
"How could I not?" Ash retorted. "I started bawling because I thought I'd never see my family and friends again, before you were all like 'HAHA JUST KIDDING YOU'RE AN IDIOT HAHA'."  
"...Nice recap of the situation." Enma sighed, a sweat drop appearing on the back of his head. "Anyway, you'll notice that one of my cufflinks is missing. It's been missing ever since I used its power to revive you."  
"You have magic cufflinks that can revive anyone?!" Yusuke had a weirded out expression on his face.  
"Yeah... doesn't my son?" Enma asked casually.  
"No. Nothing even remotely SIMILAR to that." Yusuke said. "Unless you count his binky."  
"...I'm not touching that with a ten foot pole. I'm just going to say that this is how I planned to revive you again should Shadow Wayne have killed you."  
"Thanks for the generosity, but why don't you use it to call Wayne back?" Ash said. "After all, like you said, it's your fault he and Jenny died."  
"...Thank you for reminding me of that." Enma said, looking down. "...I was thinking of that...but Ash...if you die again, I can NEVER bring you back."  
"Then I won't die." Ash retorted. "Now use the damn cufflink." Sighing, Enma walked over to where the blackened Rift Bracelet lay, removed his right cufflink, and raised it to the air, with a shout of "LOST SOUL NOW RETRIEVE!" At that moment, Wayne's body began to materialize, his right hand reforming inside the Rift Bracelet. As he was fully materialized, he let out a scream, apparently still remembering the pain of his death. Slowly, however, his scream faded, and he glanced around, wide-eyed.  
"I...I'm...alive?!" he probably would have said more, but he was cut off by his older sister tackling him and hugging him tightly, weeping loudly as she did so.  
"Haha...Janine...that hurts." he chuckled slightly, still feeling the pain of his death slightly.  
"I'm just... so glad you're okay now!" Janine sniffled and hugged him again. Wayne lifted his head and faced Ash. "Wow. You look like hell."  
"Yeah, taking out an evil entity hell-bent on acquiring his own body at the cost of all life in the Dimensional Universe will do that to a guy." Ash's eyes narrowed comically.  
"Wait...Shadow Wayne didn't die when I blew him up?"  
"Apparently this thing called a Nightmare Heart was inside him, and it allowed him to reform." Janine explained as best she could.  
"That thing I was forced to eat when I was eight...must have been the Nightmare Heart. That's when all of this trouble started." Wayne recalled.  
"I'll be wanting to hear a full detailed report on that when we get back." Enma explained. "That said, I'll give you an abridged version of what happened after your death. Ash transformed into the Kamoa Cherubim and saved all of our asses..." he trailed off, looking over at Jazz. "...With help from Jasmine and Motoko, of course."  
"No shit?" Wayne looked stunned as he climbed to his feet. "The F class helped out in the end?"  
"Wayne." Enma glanced over at him. "Jasmine's energy level was one million when she fired that blast."  
"WHAT?!" came the surprised cry of not only Wayne, but everyone else, including Jazz herself.  
"You heard me. The unleashing of her wings caused a massive shift in her energy level at the time. It's since returned to double digits, but if trained properly, she could be almost on the level of Ash himself."  
"Wow!" Jazz gasped.  
"Hey..." Wayne interrupted, looking around where everyone was standing. "...Where's Jenny?"  
"...She's dead." Yusuke said sadly.  
"What?!"  
"Her systems took too much damage when she shielded me from those bursts of flame. Even if Misty had finished making her replacement parts, she'd be dead now anyway..."  
"Well, I'm not just gonna give up on her, either!" Ash interjected. "Wayne, catch!" he then tossed Jenny's control chip, which Wayne seized in his right hand. "Just in case I don't make it out of here...take that chip to Professor Wakeman."  
"Pretty sure she's going to blame ME for her daughter's death since I'm the reason everyone's here right now." Wayne responded.  
"Just do it, man! Tell her I sent you. Hell, take a few friends or something so she doesn't go all giant mecha on your ass." Ash said. "If I'd been stronger from the beginning...maybe this wouldn't have happened."  
"No..." Yusuke said, his eyes widening, as he realized Ash's words bore a strong resemblance to something he'd said during his original time as a Spirit Detective. "You can't beat yourself up over things like this. The people in our lives make decisions to help us because we're all like family."  
"Like family...yeah, I do consider you guys a second family...I guess Jenny was kinda like our big sister."  
"Now wait just a second...she'd be like a little sister to me. I'm twenty-one, remember?" Yusuke cracked.  
"...Seriously?! You're twenty-one and going to HIGH SCHOOL?!" Wayne looked absolutely dumbstruck.  
"Uh...yeah. What about it? I dropped high school to find out about my ancestry. Never re-entered after that. But seriously, you didn't know I was twenty-one?""  
"I figured you were only a couple of years older than us." Wayne shrugged.  
"Well...more than a couple."  
Suddenly, Wayne noticed the look on Riku's face, as he stared toward the Balance Dimension.  
"Riku...what's wrong, man?"  
"...Master Zenki was here." Riku said, causing Wayne's eyes to widen tremendously.  
"He WAS?! Where?!"  
"Over there...inside of the Balance Dimension. He said HE was the one who scattered the Spirit Stones. This whole thing was about getting Shadow Wayne out of you so he could be killed."  
"Really now...? Where did he go off to?" Wayne asked. "He's not there anymore."  
"I guess he walked off while we were celebrating the death of your demon." Riku shrugged. "Either way, I have a feeling we'll see him again before too long."  
"There's something I need to ask him..." Wayne looked down.  
"I think I know what it is, but we'll save that for later. You have a job to do. And so does Ash." Riku glanced over to Ash, who was staring as if he was a million miles away. Little did they know that Ash was having his own conversation...  
"Very good, Ash...I'm proud of you." came the voice of his visitor.  
'A deal's a deal, man. I wasted that shadow. Now who are you, really?'  
"Most people know me as the Timelord, King Sardius. I've been taking control of your body to help you out. Without realizing it I nearly made things worse for you when we fought Wayne back in Amity Park. Forgive me for that..."  
'Why should you be asking for my forgiveness, Sardius? Enma said you were a great and wise ruler, so by that logic you were only doing what was best for the Dimensional Universe...then again, he HAS lied to me quite a few times in the past.'  
"This won't make sense, but he's doing it to protect you. You are one of the last Kamoa in the entire Dimensional Universe."  
'...Wait. Say that again.' Ash's eyes widened.  
"You are one of the last Kamoa—"  
'Shouldn't that be plural?' Ash said, in a rare moment of grammar Nazism for the young detective.  
"It is. Kamoa doesn't have another plural."  
'So you're aware of Kensuke?'  
"I've been aware of him for a long time...the time will come one day for the two of you to fight...and I wish I could have prevented that."  
'Shit happens, I guess.' Ash shrugged. 'When the time comes, I'll fight him.'  
"...You're more grown up than I originally believed."  
'Guess so...hey..." Ash trailed off, waiting for the now-identified Sardius to speak again.  
"What is it?"  
'I never realized it until our earlier conversation, but...you were protecting me the entire time, weren't you? And I'm not just referring to when you took over my body to kill Dan Phantom, either...this entire time, you've been the guiding force behind everything.'  
"I might have had a hand in that." Sardius chuckled lightly. "I sped up your body. Your wings appeared early as a result of that. You needed the extra energy to survive as long as you did against that monster."  
'And again, when I became that new thing...whatever Enma called it.'  
"The Kamoa Cherubim. Our race is descended from another legendary race known as the Saiyans. This race could transform into giant apes, and they had an extra genetic feature, when pushed beyond the breaking point, they went a step further in evolution and became Super Saiyans. The Kamoa Cherubim is...I guess you could say...an offspring of the Super Saiyan. Along the way, the Saiyans bred with another race...thanks to Janine, Wayne, and Riku, you know of them already..."  
'Wait...so the Kamoa is a hybrid of the Saiyan and Eltherian races?!'  
"Somewhat. Somewhere along the evolutionary ladder we lost the ability to transform into giant apes. We also lost the tail that every Saiyan was born with. Interestingly enough, we didn't forego the Super Saiyan portion of our genetic code..."  
'So you're saying I tapped into a power earlier that's been gone for...' Ash trailed off, realizing that Sardius had yet to reveal how long ago the Saiyans and Eltherians began to cross-breed.  
"Over three thousand years? Yes." Sardius laughed again. "You weren't the first of our race to do that, mind you. I once did this as well..."  
'Well...gee, thanks for making me feel a little less special.' Ash thought flatly.  
"No, I didn't mean it like that, Ash. What you did was an AMAZING feat. You must now start training to control this power, for Kensuke will not sit idly by while waiting for you to get lucky again. However, be warned...Kensuke is a Kamoa of the highest caliber."  
'Who is he?'  
"He is...my son."  
'Whoa...seriously?!'  
"Yes...but enough reminiscing about the past...it's time for you to insert the Rift Sword into the center of the Altar of Balance and destroy this dimension once and for all."  
"Right." Ash ended the conversation out loud, turning to Enma. "Do you have enough power left to open a rift out of here?"  
"Of course."  
"Good...take everyone but Jazz with you. I'm going to need her here."  
"R...Right...godspeed, Ash." Enma saluted his employee.  
"Ash, I'm not leaving you alone...!" Misty started to protest, but Jazz held a hand up, shaking her head with a smile.  
"Misty...it's because of you that he brought me along this far...you've done more than your fair share. I was unconscious for most of the fight. Allow me to help him out of here."  
"..." Misty looked away sadly for a second.  
"...And Ash is never really alone..." Jazz added, causing Misty to smirk and respond with "...because he has you..."  
"Exactly. I'll make sure he gets out alive." Jazz smiled. Misty returned said smile along with flashing her new friend thumbs up. As Enma caused a new rift to open, the group filed into it, save for Danny, who turned to his big sister and gave her a quick hug.  
"Don't die, okay? I don't wanna tell Mom and Dad that you blew up AFTER we killed the bad guy."  
"Don't worry, little bro. I'll be fine." Jazz grinned.  
"Hey. Ash." Danny said, turning to his friend. "Don't YOU die either, man."  
"Yeah, yeah. This is child's play, dude. I'll stick in the sword and run over to the portal. Now get outta here." Ash smirked.  
"G'luck." Danny bode his friend well, before vanishing into the rift. Ash then turned to Jazz, nodded, and stared at the small hole for a second, before letting out a shout. "GO TO HELL, YOU CURSED PIECE OF SHIT DIMENSION!" he then shoved the sword mightily into the hole. As he did, the ground began to rumble, and the Balance Dimension began to fade immediately from view.  
"That should do it! Now let's go..._**AAH-!**_" Jazz cut off, screaming bloody murder, and she had every legitimate reason to, for as Ash looked up, his expression changed from determination to horror, realizing that they were surrounded by innumerable first-level Shadow Wayne clones.  
"I TOLD YOU BEFORE, KETCHUM!" they all shouted simultaneously. "I CANNOT DIE! NOW JOIN ME IN HELL!" At that moment, they all conveyed onto Ash and Jazz, fangs dripping with acid as they pounced...

* * *

"Why the hell haven't they reached that rift yet?! It's only a few more seconds before it closes!" Enma said, before Botan charged out of the laboratory, a frantic expression on her face. Brock ran up too, his expression equally frantic.  
"SIR!" Botan shouted.  
"What is it?!" Enma looked worried.  
"It's...it's...SHADOW WAYNE!"  
"WHAT?!" Enma grabbed the crystal ball from Botan's hands and then immediately dropped it as he saw the hundreds of first-form clones attacking Ash and Jazz. "IMPOSSIBLE! HE'S DEAD! THE NIGHTMARE HEART WAS BROKEN!"  
"The Unmaker...!" Wayne said in horror. "He must have shifted one final burst of energy from the Balance Dimension to kill Ketchum!"  
"Can he DO that?!" Yusuke looked frantic himself.  
"Apparently so..." Enma said, wide-eyed. "BACK TO THE RIFT, NOW!" As they leapt for the rift, however, it sealed once more..."NO! NO!" he shouted, angrily pounding the ground. "I just condemned the two of them to DEATH!"  
"**NO...!**" Danny said, his eyes horrifically wide realizing that his sister's death was a huge probability at this point.

* * *

Ash roared, his spiking energy being the only thing keeping him and Jazz alive as he swung his Rift Sword furiously, dispatching clones left and right.  
"It doesn't matter how many of us you kill, Ash...we are one, and we are immortal!" one clone said.  
"Really? Cause I'm only picking up about three hundred of you in total." Ash growled. "And I've been wanting to drag you back from Hell long enough to KILL YOU AGAIN FOR WHAT YOU DID TO JENNY!"  
"Boo hoo!" they all spoke in unison, even as Ash continued to kill them. "The soulless robot girl died! Big deal!"  
"Boo hoo..." Ash retorted, frowning. "I OWNED your ass. Big deal, right? Keep attacking me with these wussy first-level clones! You're NOTHING to me, you bastard!" he boasted, firing a Spirit Shotgun and killing ten more. "That's one-SIXTH of you. I haven't broken a sweat. What are you trying to accomplish again?"  
"Don't lie Ash...you're not keeping Jazz there to protect her. You're LEANING on her because your energy's nearly shot...it's all just a matter of time!" the clones all spoke again."Once that energy fades...YOU'RE MINE!" they laughed in unison.  
"Come on...we've gotta get the fuck out of here!" Ash said, and Jazz nodded. "We only have twenty-four more minutes!"  
"Then hang on!" Jazz said, as she surprised Ash by picking him up off of the ground, much as he had done many times with her in the past, and flapping her new wings mightily, taking a leap of faith over the edge of the Altar. She landed with a hard thud, feeling some pain in her legs, but she was otherwise okay, her wings having cushioned the fall. She set Ash back down and put her arm around his shoulder, helping him limp to the large door. As they opened it, more Shadow Wayne clones awaited them on the other side. These too lunged at them...

* * *

"I can't see them anymore!" Bloo remarked angrily. "Stupid monitors!"  
"This is at least decent news..." Enma said. "They've reached the first elevator. Maybe they can still make it."  
"..." Wayne looked up silently. 'Come on, Ketchum...you're too stubborn to die from something like this...'  
"Ash...Jazz..." Misty trailed off, putting her hands together as if she were whispering a silent prayer, and perhaps only the hand of the Overseer himself could help them now...

* * *

"I'll tell you only ONE time..." Ash trailed off, his energy spiking lower than it had been three minutes ago. "_**GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY!**_"  
"Here lie two of the last Kamoa..." Shadow Wayne's clones jeered.  
"Shut up! Neither of us are dying here, you monsters!" Jazz countered, a determined look on her face.  
"I beg to differ!" the clones retorted in perfect unison, as they and the two Kamoa raced at breakneck speed down the elevator shaft. Ash angrily dispatched every clone that even attempted to enter melee combat with him. Soon there were none left on the elevator, and as they hit, Jazz shouted "Nineteen minutes!"  
"Let's get going!" Ash said, hobbling across the room with Jazz once again helping him along.

* * *

"Time's halfway up...hopefully they've reached the second elevator, because otherwise they won't make it out!" Enma said, eyes wide.  
"Wait...weren't those elevators made out of energy?!" Yusuke interrupted.  
"No. They looked like it. But that's refined Dimensium." Enma said. "The same thing Ash's sword is made out of..."  
"Why's it gold colored when that elevator was translucent light blue?" Bloo asked.  
"There are different grades. When Sardius constructed the Rift Sword and Rift Bracelet, he found the highest grade of Dimensium. That's why the Bracelet had remained intact in the explosion, albeit quite a bit smudged. But an explosion of that magnitude...not even the highest grade Dimensium could survive it."  
"Which reminds me...shouldn't we take cover?" Yusuke suggested.  
"The barrier keeps any physical object trapped within it, or outside of it. All we'll see is one GIANT explosion."  
"WOO!" Timmy cheered, receiving dirty looks from nearly everyone else there before adding, "Uh...hope Ash and Jazz make it out okay!"

* * *

"Where the hell is that elevator?!" Ash shouted, immediately cutting down yet another Shadow Wayne clone, as he and Jazz ran forward –or in his case, stumbled forward-, the elevator finally came into sight. They practically leapt onto the large pad of Dimensium, which then carried them down at breakneck speed. As they got to the bottom, Jazz frantically shouted "SEVEN MINUTES!"  
"Shit..." Ash's eyes widened in horror.  
"We're..." Jazz cut off, tearing up. "We're not going to make it, are we...?"  
"..." Ash trailed off, knowing it was looking pretty hopeless. He would have used his powers to slow time down, but as the clones had pointed out, he was nearly drained. He suddenly looked up with determination. "We definitely won't if we don't get moving...let's go!" However, as he started to take a step forward, he was suddenly dogpiled from above by no less than twenty Shadow Wayne clones.  
"ASH!" Jazz screamed, running over to him and, feeling recharged possibly due to adrenaline, she picked up two clones at once, slamming them into each other and creating a gooey mess. An immense aura of energy surrounded her, glowing far brighter currently than Ash's was. The rest of the clones were instantly disintegrated by this newfound energy.  
"WOW!" Ash gasped, feeling a small amount of his own energy miraculously recharged.  
"You're right! Let's get out of here! We still have six minutes to find the exit!" However, somewhat like Ash before her, she was surprised by a Shadow Wayne clone, who picked up one of the withered, gnarled trees and slammed it into her gut, hitting her into the wall and knocking her unconscious.  
"JAZZ!" Ash looked freaked out, wondering if she was okay, then turned with a frightening snarl. "_**I'M GONNA FUCKING MURDER YOU, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!**_" he roared, slashing the clone in half and causing it to dissolve into Nightmare goo. He sighed, feeling spent once again, but he grinned and bore it, picking up the unconscious Jazz and carrying her. As he ran along, however, he noticed clones of Shadow Wayne dropping from the ceiling. For the meantime, he ignored, them, continuing to run, until running was no longer an option. He saw that the Shadow Wayne clones had dropped from the ceiling in a large circle. While this worried him due to the passage of three of his remaining seven minutes, he smirked anyway.  
"That's all that's left of you now, huh?"  
"It's more than enough to run out the clock on you. We will now combine and waste you!"  
the clones laughed.  
"Hurry up and do it, then! If I'm going to DIE here, I'll make sure you fucking STAY DEAD FOREVER!" Ash shouted, setting Jazz down and snarling at the now-combining Shadow Wayne clones. As they merged together, the final version of Shadow Wayne appeared once more.  
"Please..." he spoke up with a laugh. "I don't even need to strain myself to kill YOU!" At this moment, the Core Dimension rumbled like it never had before, as large pillars of fire erupted from the ground around them.  
"Three minutes left...you really think you can kill me in THREE minutes, much less AT ALL?!"  
"He doesn't have to." came the voice of Sardius, from within Ash as he now looked menacingly upon the shadow with ice blue eyes. "I'M more than a match for you even in Ash's weakened state. Remember, you're operating at low power yourself." he smirked.  
"If you think you CAN kill me...THEN TRY IT!" he shouted, swinging wildly at Sardius, who easily blocked, smirking, He wagged his left finger, and then sent Shadow Wayne flying with a kick."I was going to leave it to Ash...but the Unmaker cheated." he said. "Come on! COME GET ME, MONSTER!"  
Shadow Wayne blasted Sardius away angrily with a Devil Shotgun, then running to him to plant a kick into his ribs. Sardius once again stopped him with a simple grab.  
"Haven't you realized that this is a one-sided fight?" He smirked. "I'd play longer, but it's time to put a final end to this. In the following minute, he then picked up Shadow Wayne by the collar and held him close to one of the pillars of flame. "This place will explode in a minute, so all I have time for is 'Farewell'..."  
"Same to you, Timelord..." Shadow Wayne laughed. "I won anyway...even YOU can't escape the Core Dimension that fast!"  
Frowning, Sardius threw Shadow Wayne into the pillar of flame, and once more, Shadow Wayne was gone...

* * *

"ONE minute left!" Wayne said, eyes wide.  
"They're not going to make it!" Jimmy said, gasping.  
"They WILL!" Misty protested. "They...they have to...watch, they'll come through that Dimensional Elevator any second now!"  
"Look! IT'S EXPLODING!" Enma shouted, pointing frantically at the sky.

* * *

"THERE IT IS! WE MADE IT!" Ash cheered, having since regained control of his body, picking up Jazz and running back toward the exit. However, to his extreme horror, as he approached the exit, impassible pillars of flame erupted from the ground, completely blocking the elevator.  
"No...NO! NO NO NO!" Ash shouted. "DAMN IT, MOVE!" he roared, firing a small burst of Spirit Energy at the flames, but the flames still stood strong. A wave of terror came over Ash, as the rumbling knocked him to the floor finally. The heat had become unbearable at this point...  
'What...**WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW?!**' he thought frantically, being snapped out of his inward panic by a loud explosion sounding above him, then another...finally, he saw an inescapable wave of flame and debris racing toward him. His pupils shrank as he let out one final scream before being engulfed...

* * *

Outside, the Core Dimension had lit up brightly, with what looked like miniature explosions.  
"Please...no...!" Delia said, looking on in absolute terror as one large explosion engulfed the smaller ones, filling the entire barrier, and then...nothing...  
"Oh no..." Misty gasped, silently crying as she stared at the horrifying fate that had just befallen her boyfriend and her new friend. Delia refused to be silent any longer with her grief, as she buried her head into Enma's shirt and began to sob loudly.  
'You idiot...' Wayne thought, as he stared up at the site where the Core Dimension once floated. 'Why didn't you let us help you?!'  
"Ash made the ultimate sacrifice...to save our worlds." Riku said solemnly.  
"THIS ISN'T HOW IT WAS SUPPOSED TO END!" Danny shouted, in tears. "WE WERE ALL SUPPOSED TO GO BACK HOME TRIUMPHANTLY! NOW WHAT DOES IT MEAN..." he trailed off, dropping to the ground. "What the HELL does it all mean...?!"  
Enma himself looked like he was about to cry. "I'm sorry...Ash...I let you down. DAMN IT!" he punched the ground. "I should have told you... the truth about your heritage."  
"Shadow Wayne is truly dead now..." Riku tried to rationalize the situation, but frowned and shook his head sadly. "And yet...my heart is burdened. It seems...hollow without Ash and Jazz..."  
"..." Yusuke looked down, then couldn't help but notice as the sun began to rise, and as it did, it cleared away the smoke that now permeated the spot where the Core Dimension. As the smoke cleared, what appeared to be a large, light blue egg made of Spirit Energy was now made visible, and it slowly descended to solid ground. Seconds later, energy erupted from it, purifying the area once again, miraculously repairing the damage.  
"Everything's...being fixed?!" Yusuke finally spoke up.

"Time is... REWINDING?!" Enma was stunned. "Sardius' power...! Which means that...!"  
Before Enma could finish whatever he had intended to say, the egg finally started to dissolve, revealing Ash and Jazz, alive and well...Danny's head shot up immediately.  
"Ash! Jazz! **YOU'RE ALIVE!**" he cheered happily, running over and hugging the two of them as soon as Ash had set the now-once-again-conscious Jazz down on her feet.  
"Told ya I wasn't gonna die." Ash joked, facing Enma.  
"You...you had all of us so WORRIED!" Misty said, throwing her arms around the two as well.  
"Speak for yourself. I knew he was too stubborn to let HER bite it." Wayne cracked, with a smirk as he faced Ash. He cleared his throat and said "...Good job, Ketchum. You did it."  
"We ALL did it..." Ash smiled back at Wayne. "Every one of us defeated that horrible monster."  
"So I guess this is case closed?" Yusuke commented, adding "Never thought I'd be so happy to hear those words..."  
Ash then turned and looked out upon the horizon, smiling. "The morning sun...it's FINALLY over."  
"Indeed it is..." Enma smiled, walking up beside of Ash and throwing his arm around the young Kamoa. "...And I couldn't be more proud of you."  
Ash nodded, looking out upon the horizon, with a broad grin this time, alongside each of his friends and loved ones, each of whom had in some way contributed to the events of this day...our heroes could now rest easy, for Shadow Wayne and the Core Dimension were no more, and peace had been restored to the entire dimensional universe...


	50. I'll Return Someday

PokeWing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 50: I'll Return Someday...  
A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

DISCLAIMER. 1, 25, MOVIE. SEASON 2'S OVER! W00T!

* * *

Three days had passed since the death of Shadow Wayne and the destruction of the Core Dimension. The location was now Amity Park, where Jack, Maddie, Sam, Valerie, Tucker, and Aimee waited impatiently for any sign of activity from the Ghost Portal, having been contacted an hour ago by Enma.  
"Why am I here?" Aimee asked sadly. "It's not like I'm waiting for anyone anymore..." she trailed off, looking down.  
"Enma just said to bring you along." Valerie shrugged. "For what's it's worth, while I hated your boyfriend...I didn't want him to DIE...but at least he died a hero."  
"You people think THAT'S all I care about, don't you?! 'Oh, don't worry; your boyfriend was a hero!' I cared about him BEFORE his one-eighty!" she pleaded, tears in her eyes. "None of you understand...I don't want to be here for the tearful reunion bit." she said, bitterness evident in her voice as she started to turn around. As she did, she groaned, hearing the portal open, and she shook her head. As for the others, they saw Danny, Jazz, Janine, Riku, and Osaka emerge from the portal.  
"Hey! They're all alive!" Tucker shouted gleefully.  
Sam, Tucker, and Valerie all tackled Danny, While Maddie and Jack waited for the initial tackle to end before they tackled both of their children. Aimee started to walk off, but she stopped dead in her tracks when a familiar voice spoke up.  
"...No welcome back for me? I'm a little insulted!"  
Aimee's face instantly lit up, and she turned around to see Wayne smiling at her. Without a moment's hesitation, she leaped into his waiting arms, crying hard as she hugged him tight. After a minute or two of holding onto him as though she were the only thing keeping him on the mortal coil currently, she let go and then pounded his chest repeatedly.  
"You son of a BITCH! You were alive and never told me?!"  
"Kinda hard to call across dimensions." Wayne said sheepishly.  
"I thought I'd lost you forever...don't you dare do that to me again!" Aimee sniffled.  
"I won't...I promise." Wayne blushed slightly, feeling all eyes in the room on him, before muttering "I love you."  
"Well, I love you too."Aimee hugged him again. Distracting herself from the spectacle, Maddie turned to her children, particularly Jazz, asking "So...where's the man of the hour? We're all set upstairs to throw him a celebration!"  
"..." Jazz trailed off, turning back to the swirling vortex that the gang had exited from, staring back at it with a longing smile.  
"...He's gone."  
"WHAT?!"

* * *

(Title) I'll Return Someday...  
(Jingle) 0:00-0:12 of "Departure: Piano Mix" from Rurouni Kenshin

* * *

"What do you mean 'He's gone'?!" Aimee was stunned. "I thought he made it out alive!"  
"Of course he did. He's freaking Ash Ketchum." Danny chuckled a bit.  
"Then wh—"  
"He's gone." Jazz repeated. "He left to find someone..."  
"Find who...?"  
"Well..." Jazz trailed off, remembering what had happened earlier...

* * *

-12:00 PM—

* * *

"WHOA!" Jazz shouted, grabbing Ash by his right arm in an effort to prevent him from repeating what he had just done. Enma lay on the ground, rubbing his cheek, realizing it would be swollen before the end of the day.  
"Okay. I deserved that." Enma held up his arms as if to say 'Please! No more!'  
"AND A HELL OF A LOT MORE!" Ash screamed in rage. After a few seconds, he was visibly and audibly calmer. "So tell me...if this isn't yet another 'Enma Truth', then where can I fi—"

* * *

-PRESENT-

* * *

"Wait, whoa...hold on! 'Enma Truth'?" Valerie looked puzzled.  
"Don't ask." Jazz stated flatly, her eyes narrowing in boredom. "There's a lot of ground to cover, so please reserve any and all questions for AFTER the story!"  
Valerie held up her arms and motioned to Jazz, as if she were saying 'Please, go on.'  
"Thank you. Now...actually, maybe that was a bad place to start. Let's go back before that..."

* * *

-10 AM-

* * *

"Well...?" Yusuke asked, holding out his hand to Enma, who had sweat drops forming on the back of his head.  
"Er..." Enma said, grinning sheepishly as he held up his hands. "You see...seeing as you're not an OFFICIAL Spirit Detective, I can't pay you."  
"WHAT?! YOU GAVE ME A COMMUNICATOR, YOU ASSHOLE!" Yusuke looked like he was about ready to punch Enma.  
"Which you then gave to Wayne." This statement caused Yusuke to turn around with a murderous look on his face. "DAMMIT WAYNE, GIMME BACK THAT COMMUNICATOR SO I CAN GET MY PAYCHECK!"

* * *

-PRESENT-

* * *

"Heh..." Wayne's eyes turned squinty and he grinned widely, sliding down his left sleeve and revealing that he still held onto the communicator.  
"Yes...thanks for the visual aid, Wayne." Jazz muttered.  
"Wait!" Aimee interrupted once more. "How does this have ANYTHING to do with Ash leaving?!"  
"I was GETTING TO IT." Jazz said, her eyebrows slanting in anger.  
"Well hurry up!" Aimee looked somewhat impatient.  
"Hey...tell me Aimee..." Jazz trailed off, her eyes narrowing again. "Whose story IS it?!"  
"Yours." Aimee shrugged. "Sorry. Just curious."  
"Well, if you'd let me FINISH..." Jazz said, then felt a rumbling in her stomach.. "...Actually...I'm kinda hungry. Did you fix anything for this celebration, Mom?"  
"Actually, I did!" Jack spoke up. "Been working on my cooking to pass the time while you kids were off saving the world!"  
"Universe!" Wayne corrected. "We're universal heroes, man..."  
"Whatever. Point is, you all should be really proud of yourselves!"

* * *

-TEN MINUTES LATER-

* * *

Having eaten from a magnificent spread containing various lean meats, several rare cheeses, and a hearty helping of vegetables, Jazz covered her mouth and yawned.  
"So...what happened to Ash?" Valerie asked.  
"Well, it all started right after Yusuke chased Wayne like a bat out of hell..." Jazz said, once again letting her mind go back in time, so to speak...

* * *

-10:15 AM-

* * *

"You little punks had better not be tracking mud into my nice clean kitchen!" Delia called angrily after Yusuke and Wayne, the former of whom had started chasing the latter.  
"GIVE IT BACK, YOU BASTARD!"  
"NO! IF I GIVE IT BACK I CAN'T GET PAID!"  
"Hey!" Enma called out, causing the two of them to stop. "What I was GOING to say is that I can't OFFICIALLY pay you anyway, Yusuke, since you're not part of THIS Spirit Detective outfit...don't want to create a time paradox or anything..." Enma had sweat drops forming on the back of his head. "Come by my office later and we'll work something out in private."  
"...Oh. Oh yeah." Yusuke chuckled monosyllabically. Across from where this was happening, at the kitchen table, Jazz and Misty sat...  
"Yep." Misty said, a bored tone in her voice.

"Yyyyep." Jazz echoed.

"Mm-hmm." was Delia's response from across the room.  
"Believe me, these two get worse if they're unsupervised." Jazz laughed.  
"Excuse me, do ANY of you three have ANYTHING to do with this conversation?!" Wayne frowned.  
"Fucking chicks, man..." Yusuke muttered, before Misty stood up, walked over to him, and rewarded his comment with a knee to the groin, causing him to double over in pain.  
"Yeah... chicks." Misty said, smirking as she walked back to the table, satisfied with her action.  
"That looked like it hurt." came Ash's voice as he walked down to the bottom of the staircase.  
"Ash!" Misty and Jazz both cried out in unison, excited to see that he was functioning relatively well after the events of yesterday...  
"Hey." he greeted them both, and then took a seat between them. "Misty...you said you had something important to talk about?"  
"Yes...yes I do." Misty said, smiling as she glanced over at Ash and Jazz. "I wanted to say that... I think we should break up, Ash."  
"What?! Why?!" Ash looked stunned.  
"I love you, and I know you love me..." she said. "But there's someone out there who was meant for you... well, actually, she's sitting right across from me."  
"Misty..." Jazz looked like she was about to tear up.  
"You two were meant for each other... HELL, the two of you saved the future just by admitting your love!"  
"She's got a point there..." Ash trailed off, looking at Misty, then back at Jazz.  
"You take good care of him, okay?" Misty said to Jazz, who smiled at her and nodded.  
"What about you?" What are you going to do...?" Ash looked perplexed.  
"I've been away from home for a while now...I think I'm going to return to Cerulean City for a few months or so..." Misty stared longingly out of the patio door behind Jazz. "I wonder how Daisy, Lily, and Violet are doing without me there to keep the Gym running smoothly...?"  
"Who are they?" Jazz asked.  
"Her sisters." Ash replied, turning to face Jazz again.

* * *

-PRESENT-

* * *

"So is THAT why he left? Cause his girlfriend dumped him?" Aimee asked.  
"Would you SHUT UP and let her tell the god damn story?!" Valerie shouted.  
"Right...sorry. Carry on."  
"Yeah, so...Enma fed Ash some important information after breakfast that morning..." Jazz trailed off once more...

* * *

-11:55 AM-

* * *

"I couldn't possibly eat another bite..." Ash said, letting his fork drop noisily onto the plate, where it met with runny egg yolk pooling around it. "You always have made the most awesome meals, Mom."  
"Thanks sweetie...how are you doing?" Delia asked.  
"I..." Ash trailed off, looking down. "I miss her..."  
"We all do, man." Yusuke said. "She gave everything up there..."  
"Yeah...I wish Bloo and I could have done the same for her..." Mac looked down as well. "I can't believe she's gone..." Wayne sadly looked into his coat pocket, down at the control chip that once resided in Jenny's head, and it was now all that was left of her...  
"She was there from the beginning..." Wayne commented. "Back when I was possessed by that monster...if I hadn't found the Rift Sword and Rift Bracelet...would she still be around, I wonder?"  
"I...I wish she'd drive me to school at two hundred miles per hour one more time..." Jimmy sniffled. "Is she REALLY gone?"  
"...No!" Ash pounded the table suddenly. "I refuse to accept this! I went back in time to save Jazz's life, there's no reason I can't do the same for Jenny!"  
Yes...I'm afraid there is..." Enma spoke up. "That ability can only send you back five minutes."  
"Well then there has to be something I can use to boost the effect!" Ash pleaded.  
"I'm not saying it's COMPLETELY out of the question." Enma sighed. "But think about it...you'd be resurrecting Shadow Wayne as well...and you only got lucky when you transformed and saved us all from imminent death."  
"I could do it again!" Ash shouted.  
"Really? Then why don't you do it now?" Enma challenged. "Change into a Kamoa Cherubim right now."  
"Alright you dick, I'll show you!" Ash angrily got up and walked to the patio door, opening and motioning for everyone to step outside with him. As they followed, Ash stepped out onto the dirt road that ran by his house. He let out a shout as his energy began to spike tremendously. He flung his head back with a loud scream, and...nothing. He lowered his head and glanced down at his hands, seeing the energy radiate from his body, noting that it was still blue in color.  
"Come on!" Ash shouted, letting out another scream and throwing his head back once more. Once again, nothing had happened. "COME ON DAMMIT! TRANSFORM! SAVE THE FUCKING DAY!"  
"Ash...!" Delia looked at her son with tears in her eyes, knowing that he was having a hard time accepting the loss of one of his best friends. "Ash...you can't-"  
"SHUT UP!" Ash shouted, surprising everyone with his rudeness toward his own mother."I HAVE TO DO THIS! _**SHE DOESN'T DESERVE TO DIE-!**_" Ash shouted, pounding the ground furiously.  
"Ash...do you really think she'd want to live knowing that THING would also be brought back?!" Enma shouted sternly.  
"But..."  
"**SHUT UP!**" Enma looked furious. "STOP THINKING YOU HAVE TO FIX EVERYTHING! SOMETIMES INNOCENT PEOPLE DIE, AND IT SUCKS!"  
"Enma..." Delia trailed off.  
"I lost my best friend because of the Unmaker's plotting...it was that day I stopped believing that we could forge our own paths..."  
"Why? Why would that make you change your mind?!" Ash protested, flinging his arms in the air angrily.  
"Because your father was the only person in this UNIVERSE who convinced me that humans carve their own path. I believed like the Unmaker many, MANY years ago...ever since the dawn of time."  
"The dawn of time?!" Jazz spoke up.  
"Yes. My brother and I were b-"  
"You have a BROTHER?!" Ash looked shocked.  
"Yes, but that's irrelevant now." Enma looked down. "He died a long time ago, leaving me alone. It's not like you...you have other Kamoa, Ash."  
"You mean the one who wants me DEAD?!" Ash shouted, causing Delia's eyebrow to raise.  
"Who...are you referring to?"  
"...It's not important. My point is...no. I'm not. There are OTHER Kamoa out there. I hid this information in case you failed to stop Shadow Way-" Enma was cut off by the feeling of Ash's fist against his face, sending him sprawling to the ground. Ash advanced toward him once more...  
"WHOA!" Jazz shouted, grabbing Ash by his right arm in an effort to prevent him from repeating what he had just done. Enma lay on the ground, rubbing his cheek, realizing it would be swollen before the end of the day.  
"Okay. I deserved that." Enma held up his arms as if to say 'Please! No more!'  
"AND A HELL OF A LOT MORE!" Ash screamed in rage. After a few seconds, he was visibly and audibly calmer. "So tell me...if this isn't yet another 'Enma Truth', then where can I FIND these other Kamoa?!"  
"Enma Truth?" Enma looked confused.  
"I assume you've been hiding things from me for the past two years, giving me juuuuuust enough information to keep me satisfied and not wanting to do what I just did. Thus, 'Enma Truth'. Now tell me the REAL truth. Where are these other Kamoa?!"  
"...Here." Enma handed up a piece of map to Ash. "They use cloaking technology to keep their city safe from attack, but if you go to Mount Moon, you WILL find it in this exact spot, right dead center in the mountain range."  
"Why lie about it, though?" Misty interjected, curious as to why Enma fabricated this particular lie...  
"...I promised Sardius." Enma said.  
"Then THAT'S what he meant when he was talking about other Kamoa!"  
"You...you talked to Sardius?" Delia looked surprised.  
"Yeah. Seems like a pretty cool guy. He took over my body on several occasions in order to waste some ass."  
"Heh... he always did like you." Delia chuckled, a glint in her eye suggesting she knew more about Sardius than she was letting on. "Guess I had no reason to fear if he was watching over you, because Sardius was unbeatable."  
"...You realize he DID die, right?" Enma said, frowning. "Not that I'm saying he wasn't strong, but there was someone out there even stronger than him..."  
"Wait...we were talking about something COMPLETELY different. Jenny..." Ash trailed off.  
"The other thing I was going to say about that is this..." Enma looked down, reaching into his robe and removing a rolled-up piece of paper, tossing it to Wayne. "Take that to Professor Wakeman. Jenny's control chip is still intact, so she's NOT dead. She just doesn't have a body. What's on that paper will fix that problem."  
Wayne unrolled it, looking at what the paper contained. "This is...AMAZING!"  
"An old mad scientist named Dr. Gero built a biomechanical android three thousand years ago. What are on that page are instructions for how to make one." Enma explained. "We're going to do more than bring Jenny back...we're going to make her HUMAN. It's the least I can do for her after all this..."  
"..." Ash smiled suddenly. "That's...really nice of you, Enma."  
"I wanted to do something to make up for all the 'Enma Truths' I've told you." Enma said. "I'd be lying if I said there wasn't more I was withholding from you, but all I can say in regards to that is this...you'll find your answers there at the city hidden in Mount Moon. There you'll learn who you REALLY are, and why your destiny is to fight evil..."  
"Who I... really am?" Ash looked confused.  
"Your mother and I could tell you quite a bit of this, but even we are limited in the full knowledge of the Kamoa Empire. It'll be better for you to hear the whole thing at once, so as not to drive you crazy with not knowing...  
"How long do you think it'll take for me to reach the city?"  
"About a week on foot. And that's at the base of Mount Moon." Enma explained. "I'll take you there via a rift. The cloaking technology around the city disrupts any rifts from forming there, so the closest I can bring you is the base."  
"That's lousy. What the hell are they using to cloak the city?" Ash frowned.  
"I cannot tell you...I don't know the answer myself. I assume it's some sort of Dimensium, but I can't be sure." Enma shrugged. "The only thing I know is that these people will be able to tell you everything your mother and I can't."  
"...Very well..." Ash sighed, turning toward Jazz. "Guess this is goodbye for a while..."  
"..." Jazz looked away sadly. "Are you sure you should be making a decision like this so fast?"  
"...I need to know." Ash looked away as well. "I need to know who I am."  
"Then why not ASK THEM?!" Jazz shouted, pointing at Delia and Enma angrily. "It's OBVIOUS they know, on account of her being YOUR MOTHER and Enma having a close connection with your father!"  
"Even with everything I tell him, he'll wonder if I'm hiding something else, because of Enma here." Delia sighed. "This is EXACTLY why I said I didn't want Ash getting involved with you!" she pointed an accusatory finger at Enma, who glanced away.  
"She's right, Jazz..." Ash trailed off. "Besides... they're my people. I've always wondered if there were other people out there like me... and now I know there are. I HAVE to meet them."  
"I just don't think you should go!" Jazz shouted.  
"I'm with Jazz on this one, Ash." Misty argued. "You don't know if these Kamoa will be dangerous or not."  
"They won't be. The leader of this band is Sardius's brother." Enma explained. "He shared his ideals; I sincerely doubt he'd do a one-eighty after sixty years."  
"Right...then I have nothing to fear..." Ash sighed, turning around. "Let's go."  
"Ash!" Jazz called out.  
"I'm going... I'll return someday. I don't know when. But I WILL return to Amity Park." Ash said, not looking back, as Enma opened a rift. "I guess this is goodbye..." he said, finally turning to face his friends, who now included Riku, Osaka, Wayne, Janine, Jimmy, Timmy, Mac, Bloo, and Danny.  
"Yeah...good luck man." Yusuke smiled. "It was fun."  
"Yes it was...I'll always look back on this point in my life with happiness, despite all the Enma Truths plaguing it."  
"...Gonna miss you, Ash." Bloo said, no sarcasm evident in his voice.  
"Yeah...you're not the annoying shit I thought you were originally. We had some good times too...like that time I lied and said you switched Jimmy's energy drink with beer when Yusuke was the one who did it."  
"OH GOD DAMN IT, I KNEW IT!" Jimmy shouted.  
"Can't blame a guy for trying." Yusuke shrugged.  
"A-HEM...I owe a lot to you, Ash." Riku said. "Though my decision to turn was my own... watching you from Spirit World helped me realize that the decision I made was right."  
"Good for you, man... you two have a happy life, okay?" Ash smirked.  
"Will do!" Osaka said cheerily.  
"So...I guess we won't be going to see Dead Teacher VI?" Danny joked, but inside he felt like complete crap having to say goodbye to such a close friend.  
"...Guess not. We'll watch it on DVD when I get back." Ash laughed.  
"Yeah, assuming you actually DO come back...but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't be looking forward to your return so we could compare training progress..." Wayne smirked.  
"Looking forward to it. Take care of yourself, Wayne." Ash quickly raised his right hand with a dismissive wave, which Wayne returned with the same smirk he had on his face seconds ago.

"Ash... whatever's waiting for you at this place... don't forget you have friends and family who lo- like you here." Janine commented, looking away.

"JUST like?" Wayne grinned slyly, receiving an angry elbow to the gut from his older sister.  
"It's time to go, Ash." Enma said.  
"...Bye guys." Ash said, turning around and walking into the rift with Enma. Right before it closed, his eyes widened. "SHIT! I FORGOT MY CL-" but it was too late...the rift had closed, leaving everyone standing there.  
"...He'll come back one day." Jazz said, smiling knowingly as her hair blew in the afternoon wind.  
"Yes...one day..." Delia said. At that moment, the rift to the Central Dimension opened up close by. Enma came up on Wayne's wrist communicator. "It's time for you all to go home too...step into the rift and head back to your respective dimensions..."  
"I'm going with Danny and Jazz...I have someone to go back to." Wayne smiled, thinking of Aimee.  
"...Very well...Riku, Osaka. Go with Wayne. You three will live in Condo Ketchum for the time being."  
"Got it." Riku affirmed. Without turning back to the others, he and Osaka walked into the rift, followed by Jimmy and Timmy. Turning, Bloo held his hand to where his ear would be if he possessed such features, looked at Delia, and winked. Mac shoved him into the rift, an exasperated look on his face. Wayne laughed, muttered something about "that little blue piece of shit", and walked into the rift. Yusuke turned back, gave Danny and Jazz a thumbs up and a smirk, and wandered into the rift. Janine gave a slight wave as she walked into the rift. Danny just sighed and walked into the rift, looking a bit dejected. Finally, Jazz turned to Misty.  
"He'll be back...Ash never breaks a promise...so carry on for him until he returns for you..." Misty smiled.  
"I will...thank you." Jazz returned the smile.  
"No...thank you. You've helped him more than you or he realizes. I think he can finally attain inner peace if you continue to be there for him."  
"You brought him to me...I should really be thanking you."  
"I was his past...you're his future." Misty smiled again, wiping a tear from her eye, as Jazz walked back toward the rift.  
"Goodbye...friend." she said, and Misty waved, letting the tears finally flow.  
"GOODBYE! I'LL NEVER FORGET YOU ALL! THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING!" she shouted happily, her voice cracking as the rift vanished into thin air once more...  
"They were all great friends, weren't they?" Delia asked.  
"The BEST..." Misty sniffled. "Well...I'd better get going too..."  
"Do you have to leave so soon?" Delia frowned.  
"Yes...the Gym won't run itself, you know..."  
"Well, Misty...even though you and Ash aren't dating anymore...I wish you the best of luck."  
"Thanks Mrs. Ketchum..." Misty hugged Delia tightly, before walking inside, grabbing a duffel bag containing her belongings, and walking away from the house, leaving Delia alone there to contemplate what was going on in her son's life...  
"Sardius...you were watching all this time, weren't you? You never did give up on him..."

* * *

-PRESENT-

* * *

"So Ash isn't alone...?" Maddie asked.  
"No...there's at least a whole CITY of Kamoa out there." Jazz smiled once more. "And maybe one day, I'll get to meet them. Aside from that..." she trailed off. Maddie then lowered her head. "...Am I really your daughter?"  
"Of course you are!" Maddie insisted. "We've had your birth certificate ever since the day you were born!"  
"Then why is it that I have Kamoa wings?"  
"...I don't know..." Maddie trailed off. "When I saw that, I freaked out... but honey, you'll always be our daughter."  
"Mom's right." Danny chimed in. "Wings or not, you're still my overprotective, overbearing, obnoxious sister." He then laughed.  
"Yeah...I am...aren't I?" she smiled again. "I only wonder what Ash is doing right now...?" She trailed off before realizing what Danny had said. "HEY!"

* * *

"Sorry...for everything." Enma said, staring intently at Ash. "I would give you every answer you were seeking, but... this really is something you need to find out for yourself."  
"I know...otherwise I'd have pressured you and Mom to tell me..." Ash sighed for what seemed like the umpteenth time that day. "Hey... I didn't mean... to say that you were a prick... I know you were trying to protect me... if I don't make it back..."  
"Don't talk like that...when I thought you died in that explosion...I cried for the first time since your father was killed."  
"What was Dad like...?" Ash spoke up again suddenly, catching Enma off guard.  
"He was the bravest man I knew... and he loved you and your mother very much... when the Kamoa Empire was destroyed, he took steps to ensure you wouldn't be hunted by the Unmaker..."  
"Will you tell me what his name was...?"  
"...That's something you'll need to discover on your own... it's part of that whole fighting evil thing I told you about..."  
"Well then...see ya around, Enma." Ash turned, ready to scale the mountain.  
"Ash!" he called out, causing the young Kamoa to turn around. "Godspeed, Ash Ketchum!"  
"Godspeed, Enma." he smirked, turning back around.

* * *

An hour later, the festivities had concluded, and Jazz now sat alone outside on the stump, sighing as she watched Wayne and Aimee kissing across the street.  
"Don't worry..." Danny said, stepping outside and sitting down next to her. "You'll be doing that with Ash before you know it."  
"I hope he finds what he's looking for..." Jazz noted, with a small, longing smile.  
"He will...and he'll be back before you know it...better than ever!" Danny smirked.  
"Your brother's right." Wayne grinned. "Ketchum'll be back before you know it."  
"I know...I know I'll see him again someday..."

* * *

As Ash scaled the mountains of Mount Moon, he could swear he heard Jazz's voice call out, saying "I know I'll see him again someday..." With a final smile, as the camera began to fade out, he once more repeated what he had said to his beloved earlier that day...  
"I'll return someday..."

* * *

*SEASON 2 END*


	51. Return to Amity Park, Part 1

Pokewing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 51: Return to Amity Park Part 1

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

Time for another of these, eh? Well, the only characters we own are Wayne, Riku, Janine, Aimee, Zenki, Vikki, and Kitrala. All other characters belong to their respective owners. Let's get the ball rolling on Season 3!

* * *

It was a quiet afternoon in Amity Park, or so it seemed... at an apartment downtown, an excited Victoria Masters answered the door to let in a familiar man, with long, spiky red hair. Behind this man was a woman with waist-length, straight red hair, wearing what looked like a business suit.

"We've been expecting you. Come on in." she grinned, as the two walked in wordlessly, the door shutting behind them. As they climbed the stairs, they saw Vlad, who grinned down at them as well.

"You must be Zenki and Kitrala Aladar..." Vlad gestured over to his sofa as they reached the top, which the two nodded and sat down upon. "Vikki, be a dear and fetch our guests something to drink."

"Yes, right away!" she called back, jogging off toward the kitchen.

"I trust you found the apartment okay?" Vlad asked.

"Well, it IS in the ritziest part of town..." Kitrala began. "Not much for subtlety, are you, Masters?"

"Oh... I know more about subtlety than you might think, my dear Kitrala..." Vlad hinted.

"I know about your little secret. I DO research more than just my targets, you know." Zenki smirked.

"Yes, I figured as much." Vlad sat down in a posh, extremely comfortable armchair, kicking back and resting his feet on the accompanying footstool. "So tell me, you and your wife used to work for that blasted Enma, correct?"

"Correct. 65 years ago, we found one of the last Kamoa and helped him become the unstoppable killing machine he is today." Zenki smirked.

"Funny. Someone I know once told me that HE was the very last one." Vlad's eyes narrowed as he stroked his goatee. He suddenly snapped away from whatever he was pondering, and he spoke up again. "But enough about that... you must be wondering who I'm asking you to kill. He's been a thorn in my side ever since he showed up here a year ago and started thwarting all of my carefully-laid plans! YEARS of plotting went down the proverbial drain in an instant!" Vlad snarled furiously.

"I don't give a rat's ass about your personal life." Kitrala sounded bored as she spoke up. "Just tell us who you want dead and they'll die."

"Yes, very well..." Vlad trailed off, pulling out a photo of the person in question. Though nobody could tell from his unchanged facial expression, Zenki was caught extremely off guard as he glanced at the picture.

"Him... I want you to KILL Ash Ketchum."

* * *

(Title) Return to Amity Park, Part 1

(Subtitle) He's Back in Black!

(Image) Zenki, Kitrala, and Vikki loom over Ash, grinning evilly, as he shields a horrified Jazz.

(Jingle) Electric Guitar

Special Guests:

Michelle Ruff - Vikki

Samuel Vincent - Zenki

Wendee Lee - Kitrala

Daran Norris - Bullet

James Arnold Taylor - Walker

Dee Bradley Baker - Wulf

* * *

"Kill Ash Ketchum, eh?" Zenki repeated. "...I could definitely kill him with his powers sealed like they are."

"How do you know his powers are sealed?" Vlad looked surprised.

"Because I was there when it happened, fighting two of my former students while my friend Kensuke was committing genocide to the people that he and Ash should have been ruling."

"Should have been ruling...?" Vlad parroted, extremely confused.

"They're brothers. Ash's real name is Asheron Christopher Raderia. My friend's name is Kensuke Raderia." Zenki explained. "Anyway, to keep a handle on the powers of the Legendary Hero, that is, Ash Ketchum, Enma had to seal his powers with a Mafukan spell. He's back to whatever strength he was at before killing Shadow Wayne."

"Hmm... then this should be no problem for two of the 'Warriors of God', now should it?" Vlad grinned evilly.

"..." Zenki stared at the picture of Ash that Vlad had handed him silently, as if studying every inch of the boy he'd just been asked to assassinate. After a few seconds of looking beyond the picture, he spoke up again. "...I'll do it... but we do things MY way."

"If you so insist." Vlad said. "As long as he dies, I'm fine with whatever you want to do."

"Are you really going to do things like that, Zenki?" Kitrala turned to her husband, who nodded.

"You know me too well, Kit... here's the deal. I will kill him in a year and a half. His power will have mostly reawakened by then."

"But that's crazy talk!" Vlad shouted. "Why let his energy come BA-" he started, only to be cut off by a Spirit Gun narrowly missing his head and putting a rather large hole in the wall behind him.

"We can either do this the way I want to do it, or I can kill YOU instead." Zenki said coldly. "I have no qualms with either way we go about it."

"...Wayne wasn't kidding. You are a cold bastard." Vlad suddenly smirked. "Very well. Even if I don't understand it, you can kill him however you want."

"Good... Ash will be returning to Amity Park soon. I'm sure the first question he'll ask me is where Ken's gone off to..."

"Not that it matters." Vlad smirked.

"Indeed." Zenki's expression hadn't changed from when he shot at Vlad a few seconds ago. As he rose to his feet, Kitrala joined him. Wordlessly, Zenki walked toward the stairs. As Kitrala followed, she turned her head back to Vlad and spoke briefly.

"...My husband has his own way of doing things. Understand that... that is, should you meet us again after the job's over." She then descended the staircase, leaving Vlad sitting there, as Vikki returned.

"Where'd they g- OH DEAR GOD WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT WALL?!"

* * *

It was a beautiful Monday morning, in stark contrast to the way Mondays usually played out for 15 and a half year old Danny Fenton, as he rose out of bed, stretching his arms and emitting a loud yawn. He brought his right hand to his face as he walked toward the bathroom, still surprised to feel the actual beginnings of a beard on his face.

"This is gonna take some getting used to." he muttered, as he proceeded to take a shower. He was interrupted from taking off his pajamas, however, by a knock on the door. Maddie spoke up as she knocked again.

"Danny, could you be a dear and phase down into the lab? I left a surprise present for your father down there."

"Yeah, sure Mom." he said, obeying Maddie's request and gazing around the lab for the present she spoke of. He saw a box covered in polka-dotted gift wrap, with a nice, neat orange bow tied around it. "Bingo." He floated over, grabbed the present, and floated back through the ceiling, phasing his arm and the present through the bathroom door and dropping it into Maddie's waiting hands.

"Thanks hon!" Maddie called out enthusiastically.

"Don't sweat it, Mom." he said, looking at himself in the mirror, a warm smile appearing on his face, as he laughed inwardly at himself. Not even a year ago, a showing of his ghost power, even an accidental one, could have been disastrous for the young half-boy, half-ghost, or at least, it could have been... in his mind. He was happy to finally have no secrets between him and his parents, and as he got ready to climb into the shower, he told himself one thing with extreme confidence.

"This is the year it all turns around for you, Fenton. It's time to grab life by the balls!"

* * *

Later that day, Danny, Sam, and Tucker had just gotten out of first period class. As the three of them walked, Danny couldn't help but notice someone who walked on the other side of the hall, passing them. He stared, wide-eyed, before turning around and shouting after him.

"Hey! Ash! You're back!" This caused the boy to turn, however...

"Who? I think you've got the wrong guy, man." The boy in question only bore a resemblance to Ash in height and hair style. Everything else was different about him. His voice sounded much shriller, and he had some pretty bad acne. Most of all, he had no zigzag patterns on his cheeks.

"...Guess I did. Sorry about that." The boy nodded and kept walking. Tucker looked back at the retreating teenager.

"You know, he DOES really look like Ash from behind." Tucker shrugged.

"So what did you guys think of P.E. today? Is it just me, or is Tetslaff going easy on us recently?" Sam changed the subject.

"Eh. I see it as a warning of things to come." Danny frowned.

"I'm with Danny on this one." Tucker agreed. "Perfect strategy, lure you into a false sense of security, and then BAM!"

"Maybe so." Sam shrugged. "By the way, why do seem to be on the lookout for Ash?"

"Jazz said he was coming back. She saw it in one of those weird visions she's been having." Danny explained, his expression becoming confused. "I'm seeking help for her." he commented dryly. "In the form of her not-actually-boyfriend-yet boyfriend. Wish he'd get his ass in gear and get back already! It's been three days since she saw that vision!"

"Wonder what's keeping him held up for so long?" Tucker pondered.

* * *

"That's the last of it for the living room." Wayne said, putting the last two pictures that had previously been hanging on the walls of the Ketchum household into the hands of Delia Ketchum, as she and Brock glanced around.

"Are you sure you don't mind coming along too, Brock?" Delia asked.

"Hey, I've wanted to see Ash at work firsthand." Brock smirked. "If his Spirit Detective skills are like how he was as a Pokémon Trainer , he might need a bit of advice from an old buddy."

"Yeah, well leave the fighting advice to us, Squinty." Wayne grinned cockily. "Ketchum's ass would be grass if he took advice from you."

"I suppose that's true." Brock sighed.

"Besides, I know the real reason you want to come. Futuristic babes." Wayne's eyes narrowed as he flashed a cheesy thumbs-up.

"Heh... yeah... wonder if Janine's there in Amity Park?" This caused Wayne's eyes to narrow to comical slits.

"Stay the hell away from my sister."

"...Wait, what?" Brock looked shocked.

"Yeah. Janine's my older sister." Wayne said. "Not my ex. Made that up to infiltrate your little group of friends when we worked for Team Rocket."

"Huh. Imagine that." Brock shrugged.

"Are we about ready to go, then?" Brock turned to Delia.

"Yeah... as soon as Ash gets back from Enma's office."

* * *

"I trust you found everything you needed to know?" Botan asked, as Ash entered the office.

"...You knew Kensuke, didn't you?" Ash asked in response, as they walked toward Enma's desk. "Brock mentioned that you referred to my predecessor by name."

"Yes, I knew him quite well." Botan sighed. "I didn't think he was going to go crazy like he did..."

"How exactly did you know him, Botan?" Ash's left eyebrow raised questioningly.

"...I was... am... his wife." she admitted. "Your brother and I got married 60 years ago on his 17th birthday." Ash stopped dead in his tracks.

"You knew I was his brother too, didn't you?"

"Not at first... eventually I realized you were my brother-in-law when I saw how well you fought with your brother's sword. I'm sorry... I would have told you, but I thought he was dead. Even Lord Enma thought he was dead."

"...Forget it. You do realize I'm gonna have to fight him one day, right?"

"Of course..." Botan sighed, looking away. At that moment, they reached Enma's desk, and he turned around.

"Good afternoon, Ash. I trust you're about ready to head back?" Enma smiled at Ash, who nodded silently. "I wanted to hand you this..." he handed Ash a piece of paper. Ash grasped it, reading over it wordlessly before ultimately speaking up.

"This is a list of..."

"Your new abilities. I wanted to write them down so you could have them on hand. These are ancient magic spells commanded ONLY by the Kamoa."

"This... this will really help out, Enma." Ash sounded like he was a million miles away.

"That's all I wanted you to come here for... good luck, Ash." Enma said, and Ash turned to leave, before he suddenly spoke up again. "...Ash. Something is troubling you, I can tell."

"...Misty's dead." Ash spoke up suddenly, shocking Enma.

"What?! When, how?! Botan, did you know of this?!"

"No, another Grim Reaper must have picked her up." Botan said.

"He or she must have picked up her sisters as well, cause they're also dead." Ash said, his face covered in shadow. "According to eyewitnesses around the Cerulean Gym, some sort of monster exited out of there. When they went in, her sisters were all over the walls."

"I'll send some ogres to investigate the manner." Enma said. "I'm sorry." Ash just chuckled monosyllabically in response. "Ash." he spoke up again.

"Yeah?" Ash answered without turning around.

"...Don't die. Kensuke's far tougher than anyone you've faced to this point in your life, and he's determined to defeat the Unmaker by stealing your power. That won't work, but he won't believe me if I tell him."

"Then I'll beat him." Ash said simply. "I don't care if we are related... what he did was unforgivable."

"I agree... and I'll help you in any way I can." Enma said. "I'm on your side, and I always will be, Ash."

"...Thanks." Ash smiled weakly, as if finding out about Misty's death had drained him of his usual, loud and obnoxious behavior, leaving a quiet, more reserved Ash in its wake.

"Ash... don't change. Don't lose what makes you who you are. You're perfect the way you are: obnoxious, loud swearing and all. Your father knew you would grow into your own legend, and I have faith that you will too. After all, you proved the prophecy about the Dimensional Elevator shining to be wrong..."

"...Yeah." Was Ash's simple response as he turned around, walking out of the office.

"...Botan." Enma said out loud.

"Yes, sir?"

"Do you think he's got a chance of victory against the Warriors of God?"

"Yes. He's weaker right now, but those powers will come back to him and he'll be able to defeat even Kensuke. I'm sure of it."

"Are you sure you want to speak like your husband might end up dying?" Enma's right eyebrow arched, assumedly in genuine concern.

"...I haven't seen him in 55 years, Lord Enma. The man I love is dead, replaced by a demon of vengeance." Botan sighed, looking like she was about to cry.

"...He gave me the Earth Stone, Botan... he's not completely lost. It's almost like he WANTS us to stop his plan."

"Kensuke..." Botan trailed off, perhaps thinking of happier times.

* * *

Hours later, Brock, Wayne, and Delia all stood in the latter's old living room, which had been effectively stripped of all valuable possessions.

"Hey, you put that out!" Delia called out to Wayne, who'd lit a cigarette just a few seconds ago. "Don't smoke in here!"

"What do you care? It's not your house anymore." Wayne commented dryly, taking a drag and, deciding to be a complete jerk, blowing the smoke in Delia's face.

"Eugh..." she started coughing. "How'd you get addicted to those vile things, anyway?!"

"Needed something to calm my nerves while working for Giovanni." Wayne shrugged. "It was either this or the booze. I chose this."

"Those thi-"

"-ngs will kill me, yeah, I get it." Wayne grumbled. "My fiancée, Jazz, and now you, have all made a point about that. Again, so could a car, or a shotgun to the chest. The only difference is I KNOW what's gonna kill me."

"When the hell did YOU propose to Aimee?" came Ash's voice as he entered the front door.

"I told her I was only going to if she got a revealing bathing suit." Wayne smirked.

"Wow, that's... pretty despicable. So much for true love." Brock said.

"Oh go to hell, Squinty! I was kidding!" Wayne growled.

"Well... congratulations, Wayne." Ash said, offering up his sincere congratulations to the tall redheaded man.

"...Yeah. Life's good, ain't it?" Wayne took another drag. "How about you? You gonna get off your ass when we get back to Amity Park and finally ask Jazz out?"

"..." Ash remained silent.

"Hey... 'the hell's wrong with you?!" Wayne's eyes widened slightly.

"...I'll talk about it later." Ash muttered.

"...Whatever." was Wayne's only response.

"Can we go now?" Riku asked, as he entered the room. "Everything's packed away."

"Of course. Enma can send some ogres to get it any time now." Delia said. "Ash, would you be so kind?" she gestured to his communicator.

"Right." Ash said, pressing a button, and as Enma popped up, Ash spoke again. "We're ready."

"Right. My team of ogres will be there soon. As for you, your friends, and your mother, the rift should be opening any second now."

"Then I'm right on time!" Jenny called out, entering through the front door.

"Where the hell were you?" Wayne asked, tossing his finished cigarette to the ground and stomping on it.

"Hitting on guys of course." Jenny smirked. "Hey, who's that kid with the spiky reddish hair that's been hanging out with your old mentor?"

"That'd be his grandson Gary. I may introduce you to him when this is all over."

Well, he's kinda heading this way..." Jenny pointed, as Gary knocked on the front door. As Ash answered it, Gary spoke up.

"So you're just gonna leave? You didn't even say goodbye to me or Gramps!" Gary shouted.

"...I don't have time to explain everything in detail, Gary. You win, okay? I don't wanna be rivals anymore, and I don't want any bad blood between us..."

"...You've changed." Gary looked away. "You've grown up, Ash. What the hell happened to you?"

"...I found out about my father. My REAL father." Ash sighed. "It wasn't pleasant to find out what happened, but the reason I'm leaving is to set things right in the Dimensional Universe."

"Dimensional Universe...?"

"There are many other worlds out there that need my help. I have to liberate them from the hands of the Unmaker... starting with Amity Park. I made a promise to someone very special that I'd return there after I discovered who I really am. Also... I have a feeling the Unmaker's evil is spreading there."

"..."

"You saw that big continent in the sky, right? That thing was made by the Unmaker to anchor itself to a place called the Balance Dimension where his body is kept. He's been trying to get it back for the past year and a half now. If he gets it back... we all die. I'm gonna keep that from happening."

"Will we see each other again?" Gary asked, after a few seconds of pure silence between the two rivals/friends.

"...Yeah, definitely. I'll be back here eventually. First I gotta waste the hell out of the Unmaker."

"Well..." Gary trailed off, looking away, then smiling warmly as he stuck his hand out for a shake, which Ash slowly obliged. "Take care, Ash. See ya when ya get back."

"Say goodbye to your grandfather for me, Gary!" Delia called out, just as the rift opened.

"Will do, Mrs. K! You all be careful!" Gary called out, as Ash and friends all vanished into the rift...

* * *

As school let out for the day, Danny, Sam, and Tucker headed out the door, running right into Aimee, who let out a startled cry as she dropped to the ground, landing butt-first.

"Oh, sorry Aimee..." Sam muttered, grabbing Aimee's outstretched hand and helping her back to her feet. "Wait... why are you here? Slimer High's on the other side of town!"

"I got a message from Wayne. The dork said he, Riku, and Ash will be back today." Aimee explained, and suddenly, Ayumu "Osaka" Kurosawa walked up behind her.

"Oh wow, really? That's great!"

"What are you doing here? Enma's homeschooling you!" Danny exclaimed.

"I just felt like runnin'." Osaka shrugged.

"Sounds like a plan to me, darlin'." Janine commented, running up to Osaka.

"Oh hey there Master Janine." Osaka greeted happily.

"Let me guess, you got a note too." Tucker hazarded a guess as to why Janine was in the area.

"No, I was just in the area. But since we have this bit of good news to celebrate, let's all head to Nasty Burger! It's on me!"

"All right!" Tucker cheered excitedly.

* * *

Later, at the Nasty Burger, the six friends sat and chowed down.

"So what have you been up to this summer, Master?" Osaka asked.

"Enma had to fire me. Orders from above." Janine explained. "I don't blame him, of course. Just the same, I miss being on cases."

"How've you been able to scrape by?" Sam asked.

"Oh, she's rich." Osaka commented. "Extremely rich."

"Don't advertise it like that, Ayumu!" Janine had several sweat drops forming on the back of her head.

"S'all good here, Janine." Sam smiled. "I'm fabulously loaded as well, but just like you, I don't try to advertise it."

"How are you rich? Ash showed me a few of his check stubs from Enma. He gets paid barely above minimum wage!" Danny argued.

"Well, technically, Wayne is fabulously rich. But seeing as how he gave me his debit card, I assume he doesn't care if I use some of that money to feed myself and my friends."

"Well, it's much appreciated, future sister-in-law." Aimee smiled. "Of course, as long as there's enough for your brother and I to live on until I can get through high school."

"Sweetie, you won't have to worry about money ever again after you two are married." Janine spoke up confidently.

"Well isn't that nice?" Jazz quipped, smiling as she walked up to the six.

"Oh, hey Jazz. Apparently everyone's supposed to be back today." Danny commented nonchalantly.

"I told you they were coming back!" Jazz grinned widely. "I get to see Ash again!" she cheered loudly, running off toward her car.

"Well, I guess we should get h-" Danny started, but was cut off by Jazz's scream. he turned his head, as suddenly, before the lot of them, there were Ghost Police, as far as the eye could see.

"...Why didn't my Ghost Sense warn me?!" Danny said out loud.

"I can answer that, punk." said a familiar pale-skinned ghost, wearing a bandanna and a cape, with a patch over his left eye. It was the number two man of Ghost Zone Warden Walker: Bullet. "We got our hands on some new cloaking technology. They even filter out our ectoplasmic signature, so your little Ghost Sense couldn't warn you of our arrival!"

"Walker's goons?! What the hell?! I thought we sent you guys running home scared last time!" Danny shouted.

"I'm afraid not, Phantom. We even brought out an old friend to play with you!" Bullet laughed.

"Huh?" Danny scratched his head, before being viciously tackled by...

"Wulf?!" he struggled against his ally's grip pinning him to the ground.

"_Mi... mi apologize me amiko..._" Wulf grunted out, as Danny saw an upgraded version of the collar that Wulf had on him in their initial encounter.

"You mother-" Danny was cut off by an ecto beam hitting him in the chest, knocking him silly.

"DANNY!" Sam and Tucker both shouted simultaneously. Less than a second later, Janine and Osaka had leapt over their respective tables and begun a charged toward the ghostly henchman. This charged was quickly stopped as they were blasted with ectoplasm, quickly restraining them hand and foot.

"This is all too easy." Bullet laughed. "Mission Accomplished Walker, I have the girl."

"Wait... you're here for Jazz?!" Danny looked surprised.

"The girl's bait for your little friend, Ash Ketchum. We'll draw him out by holding his girlfriend hostage." Walker spoke up on the other end of the communicator. After a few seconds of silence, everyone present was shocked by a voice coming out of nowhere. Jazz recognized the voice immediately, turning her heard in its direction, and sure enough, with Riku, Wayne, and Jenny standing next to him, was...

"Or you could just say 'Hey, let's talk'. But I guess you guys are a bunch of suicidal dumbasses." Ash said, crossing his arms. "I was on my way back to take care of you anyway."

"ASH!" Jazz cried happily.

"Hey Jazz, what's up? Talk to you in a minute." he flashed a toothy frown, as he uncrossed his arms, the Rift Sword appearing in his hands as he and his friends stared down the vile Ghost Police horde...


	52. Return to Amity Park, Part 2

PokeWing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 52: Return to Amity Park, Part 2

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

BLAH BLAH BLAH, EPISODES 1, 25, 51, AND THE MOVIES. ON WITH THE EPISODE.

* * *

As the four newcomer heroes stared down the large mob of Ghost Police, Ash locked eyes with Bullet, who seemed to be sweating bullets as he gazed into the cold eyes of the 15 year old Kamoa boy he was told to seek out.

"I'm gonna make this really easy for you, Patchy. Drop the girl and run. I have nothing to say to you guys." Ash continued to stare down Walker's right-hand man.

"W... Walker..." Bullet stammered out.

"Dammit Bullet, give the order!" Walker nearly shouted.

"R-right... attack!" Bullet commanded, and the mob of Ghost Police, save for the two that were holding onto Jazz, charged the four heroes.

"Hey, they're very considerate... they're coming right to US!" Wayne grinned wickedly, purple energy gathering at his feet. "Let's see how they hold up to this!" the energy shot up from around his feet to his hands, as he let loose a shout of "DEVIL HYPERION CANNON!", as an enormous beam of purple energy shot forth from his now-outstretched hands, much like it had during his fight with Zenki. The beam obliterated nearly all of the ghosts who were charging them before fading. Wayne then dropped to his knees.

"Man... I always overdo it." he gasped out.

"That's okay, Wayne, I have you covered." Riku smirked, knocking out the rest of the charging ghosts with a Sword of the Mortal Flame.

"Damn...!" Bullet shouted. "Nearly all of our guys are gone, Walker!"

"Retreat to the high school!" Walker ordered. Take the girl with you!"

"Right! Come on boys, let's go!" Bullet commanded, and the two ghosts holding onto Jazz followed him into the sky, with Jazz calling out for Ash as she was flown away.

"Oh no you don't, dammit!" Ash shouted, his wings spreading, but before he could fly off after the ghosts, Wulf tackled him to the ground. Ash scowled and kicked Wulf away, getting back to his feet quickly.

"Buddy... you just made the DUMBEST mistake of your afterlife."

* * *

(Title) Return to Amity Park Part 2

(Subtitle) One HELL of a comeback!

(Jingle) Techno Synthesizer

(Image) Ash, frowning, stares down a mecha-piloting Bullet, who has all the robot's gun's trained on him.

Guest Voices:

Steven Jay Blum - Kensuke

Samuel Vincent - Zenki

Wendee Lee - Kitrala

Debi Derryberry - Jimmy

Michelle Ruff - Vikki

Daran Norris - Bullet

Dee Bradley Baker - Wulf

James Arnold Taylor - Walker

* * *

"Alright pal, I'm gonna make this real quick and p-" Ash started, only to be cut off by Danny.

"Ash! Don't hurt him, he's on our side!" Danny shouted. "It's that collar! We have to get it off of him!"

"Easier said than done!" Ash interjected, barely dodging Wulf's claws.

"_Mi apologise_, _mi apologise_!" Wulf shouted, in a pained voice, as electricity was crackling through the collar.

"Is that Esperanto?" Wayne asked.

"Yeah, that's all he knows how to speak!" Tucker threw in. Wayne then spoke up, in fluent Esperanto.

"_Mi koni gxi hurts, sed mi bezoni vi al budo ankoraux._" Wayne spoke, and Wulf obeyed, standing still. Just then, Wayne reached up his right hand, after sliding his coat sleeve back to reveal the Rift Bracelet, and grabbed the collar. With a shout, the electricity began to fade.

"How in the HELL did you do that?!" Tucker asked.

"...The collar's powered by ghostly energy. This bracelet's main power is to siphon energy and use it to power up the wearer." Wayne explained. After being licked by a happy Wulf, he turned to Ash. "Ketchum, you're free to cut it away from his neck.

"Right. Hold still, man." Ash sighed, then pointed the Rift Sword just at the edge of the collar. Wulf, with a panicked expression, spoke up again.

"_La Rift Glavo! La Rift Glavo!_"

"It's okay... I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just gonna use the sword to destroy this collar. Just hold real still..." and in a few seconds, the collar was wrested from Wulf's neck in a bloodless fashion.

"_Mi am libera! Danki vi tre multa Mister Ketchum, estis gxi?_" Ash shrugged, then looked over at Wayne and Tucker, the latter of whom translated.

"He said 'I am free! Thank you very much Mister Ketchum, was it'." Tucker explained.

"No problem. No problem at all." Ash smiled. "Now we've got to get to Casper High and save Jazz!"

"Sounds like a plan!" Jenny chimed in. "Danny, wanna come with?"

"Wait, who are..." Danny cut himself off, then on closer inspection, was able to figure out who she was. "...Jenny?!"

"Yup!" Jenny smirked. "Wayne brought some new blueprints to Mom, so she fixed me up in a humanlike body!"

"Wow... you kept your promise to Ash?! But I thought you hated Ash!" Danny said.

"I don't HATE him... I just don't like him. Besides, Jenny's first death was my fault." Wayne stared over at Aimee. "How's it going?"

"How's it going?! How the hell do you think?!" Aimee asked. "Until you all showed up, Danny got his ass kicked, as did Janine and Ayumu!" she pointed back toward the other two she had just mentioned, and seconds later, Riku had freed both of them, with Ayumu hugging her husband for all she was worth.

"Hey hon!" she greeted enthusiastically. "What kept you?"

"Business in the Kamoa Paradise." Riku said. I'll tell you all about it when we get back from kicking the pirate ghost guy's ass. Ready, Ash?"

"He's already gone. So are Jenny and Danny." Wayne pointed out nonchalantly, and sure enough, Ash, Jenny, and Danny had already left.

"And you didn't say something about this sooner because...?!" Riku looked a tad miffed.

"Because I'll beat you all there anyway." Wayne smirked. "No one on our team can match my speed."

"We'll see about that, Williams." Riku returned the smirk, and a second later, both of them had run off in the direction of Casper High, leaving Sam, Tucker, Janine, Osaka, and Aimee standing there.

"...Huh. Well, imagine that." Sam spoke up suddenly.

"Should we follow 'em, Master?" Osaka asked. Janine shook her head.

"Nah... believe me, Ash doesn't even need the others to follow him. He's WAY more than a match for that one guy."

* * *

"Why do you want Ash?!" Jazz asked, struggling against the two ghostly goons as she stared down Bullet angrily, as they sat in the Gymnasium of Casper High School.

"I don't know. Walker's made some sort of deal, from what I gather." Bullet explained, shrugging. "Not that it matters. Once your boyfriend's dead, I imagine you'll be disposed of too."

"Like I'm gonna let that happen." came the voice of Ash as he kicked open the door. "And if you and your jerk squad think they can kill me... by all means, TRY." At that second, his Rift Sword materialized in his right hand. "If you think I'm afraid of death, you're wrong. Not that it matters, you guys aren't going to kill me."

"Besides which..." Jenny threw in, as she and Danny came running up behind him. "You have us to deal with as well."

"And us..." Wayne interjected, sitting in one of the window sills, crossing his arms and smirking.

"How long were you up there?" Danny asked, panting.

"Oh, about two minutes. We got here WAY before you guys." Wayne's smirk widened.

"We...? ...Riku got here before us too, didn't he?" Jenny asked flatly.

"That I did." Riku said, sitting in the windowsill next to Wayne. The two of them then hopped down.

"Huh, well, imagine that..." Bullet said, looking nervous.

"Bullet, did you fry all your brain cells crossing over to the living world?!" Walker's voice rang out from Bullet's communicator. "Use that THING I sent you!"

"Oh right, the giant robot." Bullet said, smirking.

"Giant robot?!" Danny looked worried.

"TRANSFORM!" Bullet shouted, and the up-until-now-unnoticed backpack he had on him opened, expanding... wrapping him in metal from head to toe. As it covered him, though, it grew, and grew fast. It grew enough to push up against, and ultimately break through, the ceiling of the gym.

"HAHAHAHA!" Bullet cackled, as the robot finished growing, reaching fifty feet. In this time, Ash had murdered the two guards holding Jazz back, grabbed her, and fled out the nearest exit, the rest of the gang in tow. "Watch out, I might just step on you, ants!"

"Actually, fifty feet isn't enough of a height for us to look like ants..." Wayne pointed out.

"True, but my robo-foot's big enough to step on you like you're an ant!" Bullet laughed evilly, stomping toward Wayne to prove his point. Wayne barrel rolled out of the way with a scowl.

"Man... he's a jerk now."

"When was he NOT?!" Riku argued, dodging out of the way quickly.

"Point taken!"

"How are we gonna take him down?!" Riku shouted. "We can't keep this up forever!"

"I don't have enough energy for a Devil Hyperion Cannon!" Wayne scowled. "That collar only charged me enough for a Devil's Hammer!"

"That won't do... the only reason it worked so well on Vexus is because she was a small target. That thing MIGHT put a hole in his leg, but it won't be significant enough to do him in."

"Yeah... and leave me completely drained of energy..." Wayne looked around. "KETCHUM! Try to break an arm or leg with your Spirit Mega Gun!"

"Right!" Ash shouted, wordlessly firing off an enormous bullet of Spirit Energy afterwards, which connected with the robot's right leg, doing absolutely nothing.

"Damn...!" Ash shouted. "What are we going to do...?!"

"There's only one thing TO do, Kamoa punk!" Bullet shouted, with a cackle. "DIE!" he then tried to step on Ash, who barely dodged. Before Bullet could lift the robot's leg again, Danny floated up to it, letting out a mighty Ghostly Wail. However, while it pushed the robot back a bit, no signs of damage were evident. Just then, Jenny fired off a few powerful beams from her wrist-mounted laser cannon. Again, there was no damage.

"Take this!" Riku shouted. "SWORD OF THE MORTAL FLAME!" he unleashed a devastating Sword of the Mortal Flame, but all it managed to do was scuff the robot's right arm somewhat. Bullet laughed in response, blasting Riku with a large ecto-beam, sending him hurtling into the rubble.

"RIKU!" Wayne shouted, before he too was sent flying into the rubble.

"Riku, Wayne!" Jenny shouted. She was kicked by Bullet, sent flying head first into rubble along with Riku and Wayne.

"This... wasn't quite the way I was expecting this fight to go." Danny commented, eyebrows raised.

"You were so anxious to show off your power that you drained it before you had a chance to fight me!" Bullet grinned wickedly. "This suit is nigh-spirit energy proof!" he shouted. Ash and Danny stared up, the former looking only marginally concerned while the latter had a very frightened expression on his face. Neither of them, however, noticed the Rift opening behind Bullet, until a familiar voice spoke up... well, somewhat familiar. He had obviously aged a bit, but he still had the same tone to his voice.

"Is it resistant, however, to say, a pair of jumper cables?!" Jimmy smirked, hooking a set of jumper cables to the back of the robot's foot and putting on shades, grinning widely as the robot proceeded to light up like fireworks in the Fourth of July. After a few seconds of LOUD electrical crackling, the machine drooped, its now-useless arms hanging at its side. Ash let off a small smirk.

"You're late. What kept you?"

"Hey, come on, Enma had to find out what this thing was weak to!" Jimmy griped.

"Wait... you knew Jimmy was coming?!" Danny looked stunned.

"I called Enma on the way here and told him to call in a favor." Ash explained. "It was either gonna be him or Yusuke."

"Ash! Do it now, before he can get that thing's power back online!" Jimmy shouted.

"Hey, pirate dude!"

"It's Bullet, you twit!" Bullet shouted.

"Okay, Bullet... I'm willing to bet that, without your power source, that robot falls as spectacularly as anything else I've hit with this attack!" Ash said, the Rift Sword dematerializing as he grabbed the Soul Sword from the sheath on his back and brought it to his side. As he did that, he pulled his left hand away from the Soul sword, bringing out the Rift Sword once more. He lowered both of them, perfectly spreading them apart, as blue energy flowed from his feet to his blades. After it had all gathered, he brought them together in an x-shape in front of his face, then separating them once again and swirling them in a half-circle, bringing them above his head.

"...I'd better high tail it outta here." Bullet scowled, phasing through the robot's midriff and starting to fly off as Ash finished his killing move.

"NEO SPIRIT SLASH!" he screamed, letting a giant blade of blue spirit energy fly forth, perfectly halving the robot down the middle. As it split in half, it exploded noisily. Bullet was sent flying into the atmosphere by the explosion, with a shout of "YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF ME, PUNK!"

"...Who was that guy again?" Ash smirked slightly.

"Well, I guess that takes care of the Ghost Police..." Danny shrugged. "How about the others?" Before he or Jazz could turn to the others, however, Jimmy was already there, inspecting them with some sort of device.

"They're all okay!" He turned to Ash, then back to the three unconscious warriors. "Man, you guys sure can take a beating."

"S'what I do best." Jenny smirked weakly. After a few seconds, Jazz turned to Ash and hugged him tightly, looking back at Danny with a smirk. "See? I told you he was coming back!"

"Good to see you too, Jazz." Ash smiled weakly.

"Anyone wanna hang around here and explain this shit to Lancer?" Wayne asked, seeing Lancer off in the distance.

"Not it!" every called out before him.

"Not i- aw fuck." he sighed. "Well, I'll cut the school a check. Aren't I a nice g-" he smirked, turning toward his comrades only to see that they'd all left already." You motherFUCKERS!"

* * *

"That's strike 1 for your associate, Walker." came the voice of Kensuke, as he walked forward into Walker's office, grinning. He wore a strange device, which KIND of looked like a high tech monocle. It had an extension which Kensuke wore over his left ear.

"That Ketchum punk won't get away with what he did to my best men!" Walker snarled, knocking his nameplate and several documents off of his desk with a sweeping motion.

"Admittedly, part of the fault is my own. I couldn't have possibly predicted that Asheron would have this much energy back already from the seal placed on him. Hey Zenki." he smirked, turning to his friend, who sat at the door of the office with Kitrala.

"Yeah?"

"His power's already above 750,000. If this keeps up, you might have to go all out in a year and a half."

"That'd be fun, wouldn't it darling?" Kitrala grinned. Zenki wordlessly returned the grin, leaving Kensuke to finish for him.

"I'd be more surprised, but then again..." he trailed off, lowering his head, closing his eyes, and grinning. "He IS my brother."

* * *

Later, at Condo Ketchum, Ash stood there, looking at his old room. It was exactly the way he left it six months ago. Though Riku and Wayne had been living here with Valerie, the two guys bunked in Yusuke's old room while Valerie used Jenny's old room.

"The only person who's been in here since you left was me... and that was just to make sure your stuff didn't get dusty." Jazz said, giving off a small smile to Ash.

"You didn't have to do that." was Ash's simple response.

"Of course I did. No one wants a messy room, dork." she let out a small chuckle, her expression contorting to a shocked frown as Ash pulled out a cigarette and lit up. "Oh god, when the hell did you start smoking?!" Ash turned around, his eyes covered in shadow.

"Do me a favor, Jazz. Skip the lecture. When you see what I've seen, THEN you can tell me..." Ash trailed off.

"What...? What did you see? What did you find out about yourself?!" Jazz asked.

"..." Ash remained silent, walking away and out the old front door, presumably to go outside and finish his cigarette in peace.

"...He can tell me when he's ready." she said, warmly smiling after him, remembering when she'd said the same thing a long time ago regarding Danny's alter ego, and as much as she'd meant it about her brother back then, she meant it for her boyfriend now...


	53. Abandon Ship!

PokeWing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 53: Abandon Ship

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

DISCLAIMER. EPISODES 1, 25, 51, AND THE MOVIES. OH **HAI **EPISODE 53.

* * *

A year had passed since Ash's return to Amity Park, and since then, he had moved away from Condo Ketchum and found a place to live with his mom a few blocks away from Casper High. In this time, Delia and Brock had been teaching him how to drive -though he had gotten a few lessons a year and a half ago from Jazz-, and it was paying off rather well, as Ash pulled up to FentonWorks to pay a visit to the family whose daughter he was TECHNICALLY dating, Delia in tow so she could finally meet the two that Ash had told her about.

"I can't believe it's taken you this long to get around to having me meet Jasmine's parents!" Delia sighed. "If you're going to marry Jasmine one day, I'd like to know my future brother and sister-in-law!"

"Mooom..." Ash grumbled in response. "We're not officially dating yet."

"Well why not? You love her, don't you?"

"Yeah... I do. I don't want her to get hurt though..."

"...Ash..."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"You have to talk to someone! You've barely spoken to anybody aside from Jasmine since you got back!"

"Yeah, let me tell my friends who weren't there that I have a brother, he's evil, and he wants to kill me!" Ash shouted. "I can't fight him, Mom... with my power boost I was able to hold him back, but... Nalia..."

"Kensuke... he's... not all bad... he gave Enma the Earth Stone. I think he wants you to stop him, Ash..." Delia said.

"Wait... you're NOT trying to tell me not to fight him?"

"The greatest pain a mother can have is to see her own child in agony, Ash... Kensuke is in a lot of pain. If defeating him brings some sort of catharsis... then I want you to fight." Delia explained. "I'm also hurting watching you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. You have to talk to someone. Please..."

"...Yeah, I know. I can't keep it bottled up forever. Maybe it's time I told everyt-" he was cut off by a very loud foghorn, as a giant glowing green ship sailed overhead.

"Oh my... is that common nowadays?" Delia asked, before a couple of green skeletons dropped into the car, seizing Delia by her arms and yanking her away, screaming, into the sky.

"...Oh god damn it, Ghost Portal." Ash sighed, his eyes narrowing in anger.

* * *

(Title) Abandon Ship!

(Subtitle) Women and ghost children first!

(Image) Ash, Wayne, Danny, and Riku scowl up at a giant flying green ship, with a shadowy Youngblood grinning down at them, and Jazz and Delia bound to the mast looking frightened.

(Jingle) Synthesizer

Guest Voices:

Steve Blum - Kensuke

Samuel Vincent - Zenki

Wendee Lee - Kitrala

Michelle Ruff - Vikki

Taylor Lautner - Youngblood

* * *

The communicator on Wayne's left wrist began to buzz, as the now-eighteen year old Eltherian prince snapped awake. He had spent all night last night, as well as the past several months since even before marrying Aimee, awake reading for ways to discard the Rift Bracelet after learning the horrible truth about what it was doing to him from Ash. Indeed, he was finally starting to feel the effects, his right arm in constant pain, presumably the first sign of it starting to die. He raised his left hand, hitting the answer button with the edge of his nose, his right arm being in too much pain to lift currently.

"This had better be good, Ketchum." Wayne growled.

"Does giant ghost ship flying through town count as good?" Ash's voice sounded from the receiver. "Oh, and it kidnapped my mom I need you, Riku, Jenny, and Jimmy to get downstairs. We need to stop this thing before it wreaks havoc on Amity Park."

"Yeah... we'll get..." Wayne paused to yawn. "...Right on it."

"...Did you sleep at all last night?!" Ash's voice sounded somewhat concerned on the other end of the communicator.

"None of your business." was Wayne's gruff reply. "I'll be down there in a minute."

"Right." Ash said, the communication ending as Aimee walked up behind Wayne, putting her arms around him and kissing him on the cheek.

"Hey hon, how's the arm feeling?"

"...Terrible." Wayne admitted. "I don't know if it'll last throughout the year..."

"You don't need the arm, you know." Aimee suggested. "I love you with or without it."

"I know... but I'd rather not lose it. With Kensuke, Zenki, and Kitrala on the loose, we're going to need any advantage we can get." He immediately regretted what he'd said, as Aimee gasped.

"Whoa, wait... your MASTER is one of your opponents now?!"

"...Yeah."

"Aren't you, you know... upset about it?"

"I'm fine." Wayne said. It was obviously a lie, but Aimee nodded, leaving her husband to his thoughts.

"Okay, well... you know I worry about you."

"I know. And I'm sorry for worrying you. But right now I have a job to do." Without skipping a beat, he walked over to Jimmy's door and banged on it. "HEY! WAKE UP BRAINIAC! A GIANT GHOST SHIP'S RAMPAGING THROUGH AMITY PARK!"

"Uh, honey?" Aimee spoke up meekly. "Jimmy's right over there." she pointed to the couch, where Jimmy had fallen asleep. As if awaiting her guidance, Jimmy woke up.

"Oh man... last time I go on an inventing binge while in high school..." he sighed.

"No time for regrets, Jim, a ghost ship's going through Amity Park! We gotta go kick some ass!" Wayne exclaimed.

"Right!" Jim immediately hopped into action, racing toward the stairway leading outside. Just then, Riku and Jenny emerged from their rooms.

"So... ghost ship causing trouble?" Riku asked.

"Yep."

"Bitchin'. Let's go end it." Jenny smirked.

"You guys be careful!" Aimee called out, as Wayne, Riku, and Jenny left the building after Jimmy.

* * *

"Glad you could join me! " Ash shouted back at Danny, as the two of them flew to catch up to the fast-moving ship.

"I TOLD Dad not to fly into the ghost shield at the bottom of the sea, but did he listen? Nooooooooo..." Danny rolled his eyes angrily. "Granted, I couldn't say WHY..."

"Right, right..." Ash sighed. "...Wait, why are you here again? I didn't call you."

"Leaving me out, Ash? I'm a tad offended." Danny frowned.

"No..."

"Whatever. Anyway, the ghosts grabbed Jazz. after getting out of the Ghost Zone."

"Oh GOD DAMN IT, JACK." Ash growled angrily. "Okay... what are we up against?"

"A group of ghost pirates." Danny shrugged.

"Tell me something I didn't already know... no, seriously. Do it." Ash sighed.

"You're no fun anymore." Danny let out his own sigh. "Their leader's some bratty punk named Youngblood. He teamed up with Ember McClain two years ago to brainwash every adult in town, then he came back after the aforementioned bottom of the sea incident to convince everyone I was crazy. Now... I guess he just wants to cause general havoc?" Danny looked confused.

"Nabbing Jazz made sense. She's close to you. But why Mom?! I've never even MET this kid." Ash's eyebrows slanted, a determined look on his face as he increased the speed of his flight, catching up to the ship in a matter of seconds. As he pulled up to the side, he was bombarded by several cannon balls. Before he had time to react, one hit up against him, sending him zooming toward the ground. It was only via Jenny's interference that he survived the ordeal, as she caught him, before landing on the ground.

"Are you okay?" Jenny asked. Ash got back to his feet and wordlessly walked away. "Ash!"

"...Talking like this is just wasting time."

"But you were talking to Danny a few seconds ago." Jenny protested.

"And speeding toward that thing. Now I'm not." Ash didn't spend one second looking back at her.

"C'mon, don't be like this!" Jenny shouted.

"..." Ash flew off wordlessly, and seconds later, Jenny was joined by Wayne, Riku, and Jimmy.

"'The hell was that about?" Wayne asked.

"Don't... not right now, Wayne..." Jenny growled. "Not a good time to start this crap..."

"What crap? I just asked what's wrong!"

"Yeah, but then you're gonna make some sort of smartass remark about Ash." Jenny held up her hand to silence the Eltherian man. "And right now I'm not in the mood to hear it."

"Well, whatever. It's got nothing to do with me anyway..." Wayne shrugged, as the four flew off once more.

* * *

"I can sense Asheron heading out to take care of Youngblood." Kensuke smirked, as he, Zenki, and Kitrala stood, or rather, floated on the outskirts of Walker's prison.

"Exactly what are we hoping to accomplish with this?" Kitrala asked. "Youngblood is MAYBE a B class ghost. Asheron could SNEEZE and kill him, so what the hell?"

"..." Zenki silently gazed up into the swirling vortex surrounding them. "We need to bring out his powers... I refuse to fight him as he is now."

"I couldn't agree more. Ergo... we get him enraged. His powers are based on his emotions at the time. He just needs to learn to control them... truly he is a descendant of the Saiyan race..." Kensuke let out a chuckle.

"You were the same way at first too, you know." Kitrala looked up, seeming to reminisce. "Zenki and I were off getting married when you finally managed to get control of your powers, remember?"

"Oh yes, I remember. By the way, thanks for not inviting me to the wedding... assholes." Kensuke frowned.

"We couldn't find you. Or did THAT part slip your mind as well?"

"Ah well, I was off getting married myself at that time... speaking of which..." Kensuke grinned as he rose to his feet, unsheathing his giant silver broadsword and pointing it toward the sky. As he did so, a large blue beam shot forth from it, opening a rift, which he then leaped into, leaving Zenki and Kitrala to wonder what their friend/leader was up to...

* * *

Ash quickly caught back up to the ship. As he did, a green-haired preteen ghost boy stuck his head over the side.

"D'ya mind? We're wrecking shit here!"

"You must be Youngblood." Ash said. "I'll make this REAL simple for you. Stop wrecking stuff or die. Again."

"Ha! What makes ya think you can kill me?!"

"This sword, for starters." Ash replied dryly, materializing the Rift Sword in his right hand. "That, AND your energy count's MAYBE at 70,000. You pose absolutely no threat to me OR my associates whatsoever."

"Yeah?! Well your face is dumb! HAHA! I SO went there!" Youngblood laughed.

'Is he completely nuts?' Ash thought, as he flew silently for a few seconds before being attacked by another wave of cannonballs. He bobbed and weaved between this new volley, sword outstretched as he dove for Youngblood. However, Youngblood refused to move, smirking evilly as Ash hit up against some sort of invisible force field, flying backward.

"What the HELL?" Ash looked stunned at this turn of events.

"HA, dumbass!" Youngblood cackled. "Kensuke told me about you! I made a few modifications to the ship after we finally got it out from the river! Now it repels all humans!"

"Then how did you kidnap my mom and Jazz?!" Ash demanded.

"I CAN turn it off, you know. Jesus... are you REALLY as crafty as Kensuke made you out to be?!"

"...Give Mom and Jazz up now, and I'll let you live." Ash threatened, changing the subject.

"HA! You really think you're gonna get your way here?!" Youngblood laughed again. "The only way you're gonna win here is to blow up this whole ship...and KILL your mom and girlfriend."

"..." Ash's eyes narrowed in fury as he snarled.

* * *

"Botan..." Enma spoke up suddenly, his eyes wide. "Do you feel that...?!"

"Yes sir, he's coming here...!" Botan's eyes were also wide, and they widened as far as humanly possible as the person they were referring to entered the room, a serious look on his face.

"Botan..." he spoke up.

"K... Kensuke?!" Botan gasped at the sight of her husband.

"...Enma." Kensuke's voice became much more curt toward his former boss.

"Kensuke... why are you here? More specifically, HOW are you here?! What's going on with you, Kitrala, and Zenki?!" Enma asked several more questions, but none of them were paid any mind by the elder son of Sardius, who glanced over at his wife. Without looking back toward Enma, he spoke up again.

"I want to test Asheron. Today I released a bratty pirate ghost kid named Youngblood to terrorize the town."

"I'm aware of him. Daniel Fenton, the town's hero, fought him on a couple of occasions. His power isn't even at 100,000. That's not much of a test." Enma said. "Ash's current energy count is 7-"

"750,000, yes. I'm aware." Kensuke said. "While I can sense energy levels, I prefer to do things the old-fashioned way." He finally turned his gaze back to Enma, smirking as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small metallic device, with a glass screen that went over his left eye as he attached it to his left ear. "Of course... I don't have it on now."

"An old scouter... where did you get one of those?!" Enma was shocked, to say the least.

"Time... effort... and lots of bodies." Kensuke closed his eyes as he continued to smirk.

"Kensuke... why?!" Botan spoke up. "You weren't like this before!"

"I'm aware of that. We were happy once. We could be happy again... after all, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon." Kensuke said. "At least, not until I defeat the Unmaker once and for all..."

"...No. Not like this, Kensuke. I don't want anything to do with what you are now!" Botan protested, staring her husband dead in the eye. Kensuke, legitimately taken aback by her statement, actually took a step back before he spoke up again... slowly, silently... at least at first.

"I'm doing this for you, Botan... for us..." his voice then increased dramatically in volume. "FOR EVERYONE IN THE DAMN UNIVERSE!"

"Which explains why you want to wipe out humanity..." Enma spoke up dryly. The snarling Kensuke reached for his sword, only to be cut off by the person who had enraged him. "Don't even THINK about it, Kensuke. We both know what would happen." Kensuke, still snarling, reluctantly took his hand off of his sword. "Smart move. Now leave. If you're going to challenge your brother, then do so. But keep this in mind..." he trailed off smirking. "Power levels don't matter. He's ALREADY better than you."

"You son of a..." Kensuke growled, reaching for his sword.

"Again, there aren't enough words in the English language to tell you how STUPID it would be on your part if you attacked me." Enma warned, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

"I'm well-aware of what would happen... but..." Kensuke trailed off, returning Enma's previous smirk with one of his own. "...Since you believe so much in Asheron, I'll prove just how inconsequential he is. Legendary Hero... I will take that title for myself. Then I'll defeat the Unmaker."

"You really think you can defeat the Unmaker, don't you? You remember what happened last time?"

"Yes, because you recruited me and told me I had to fight."

"Actually, you stopped me from telling you anything. You said you were going to kill the Unmaker AND anyone who stood in the way of your mission."

"..."

"Kensuke... you want to believe that hasn't changed, but... you spared Ash." Enma looked almost somber. "You gave us the Earth Stone..."

"...Yes I did." Kensuke turned around, raising his broadsword once more. "One of two things will happen when Asheron and Zenki fight in half a year... he'll rise to the challenge, or..." he cut off, letting Enma grimly finish his thought.

"...He'll die. Are you really malicious enough to stand back and let your best friend murder your younger brother?!"

"...Guess we'll find out." And with that, a beam of dimension-warping energy shot from Kensuke's sword, and seconds later, he had leapt into the Rift, as said Rift closed right behind him.

"Kensuke..." Botan trailed off, looking at the spot where her husband had vanished.

"...What are your TRUE goals, young man...?" Enma thought aloud, wondering what his former associate's younger sibling was up to at that moment.

* * *

"..." Ash stared down Youngblood, not having moved for the last few minutes. Youngblood continued to laugh, his childish chuckle turning into a truly-annoying horse guffaw. "You know... you're really annoying."

"And you're totally powerless! You can't stop me without killing your mom or your girlfriend!" Youngblood reiterated, causing Ash to snarl in rage.

"You son of a... I'm gonna-"

"Get hit by a volley of cannonballs?" Youngblood smirked, as another volley was launched at Ash, who dodged them masterfully. "Okay, let's change the rules a bit!" he turned and motioned to a couple of his crew members, who nodded and walked off. Second later, they brought out Jazz and Delia, who had been bound tightly with coarse rope, which pinned their arms to their sides.

"Ash!" Jazz called out.

"Damn you..." Ash snarled once more.

"Go ahead! Why don't'cha use that Neo Spirit Slash of yours?!" Youngblood laughed.

"How did you kn-"

"Zenki."

'Oh yeah... he saw when I first came up with the attack.' Ash thought, allowing himself to get distracted at all too crucial a moment, as Youngblood seized this opportunity to shoot Ash out of the sky with one last volley of cannonballs. As Jazz and Delia watched their loved one fall from the sky, the latter starting to sob loudly as she watched her son plunge.

"Ash! ASH-!" Jazz screamed after the image of her plummeting boyfriend. Immediately afterward, a cloth was pulled between her lips and knotted behind her head. She glanced over at Delia, noticing that she had also been gagged. The two women stared forward, crying silently.

"Well, that was easy." Youngblood laughed. "Okay, we can toss 'em over now. Send 'em flying, scalawags!" The two skeletons holding onto Jazz and Delia nodded silently and walked the two women over to the edge of the ship. Jazz shut her eyes tightly, wondering how she and Delia were going to get out of this, and yet, her unbearable grief over Ash's death had her feeling like maybe something SHOULDN'T happen. Before she could think any further on it, though, she could hear the sound of bones clattering noisily to the ground. She opened her eyes, only to see a smirking Riku standing in front of them.

"What the…? How'd you get past my barrier?! It's supposed to keep ghosts AND humans out!" Youngblood shouted angrily.

"Yeah, about that… I'm NEITHER of those things." Riku said, his smirk unflinching. Just then, Jenny leapt up onto the ship herself.

"And as for me… I'm a biomechanical android. TECHNICALLY human, but apparently not enough to set off the shield." As she finished speaking, she and Riku quickly untied Jazz and Delia. Jenny then grabbed onto the now-free females and leapt off of the ship, as Youngblood looked on in absolute rage.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE! KEELHAUL THAT TALL BASTARD!" he roared.

"Stupid move." Riku smirked as a crowd of skeletal pirates gathered around him. He let out a mighty shout, blue Spirit Energy exploding from him in the process and disintegrating all of the pirates.

"YOU SON OF A…"

"Finish that exclamation and I'll spray you ALL OVER AMITY PARK." Riku's smirk turned to a frown.

"You can't do a thing to me! Ya gotta have something that could kill a ghost!"

"Working on it." Riku said. "So if I were a shield generator on this ship, I'd be…captain's quarters, right?"

"Ha! Shows what you know! It's in the crow's nest!" Youngblood exclaimed, smirking as he did so, then looking horrified as Riku gave off an evil-ish grin in response. Riku made one mighty leap into the crow's nest, slashing the shield generator. As the shield lowered, an assault by Jimmy and Wayne immediately followed, with Jimmy digging one of his suit's large mechanical arms into the side of the ship and grinding through it, tearing it up badly. On the other side of the ship, Wayne did the same thing with Gurthang (holding it with only his left hand), smirking as he went to town, so to speak, on the ship.

"HEY! THAT COST ME TWO YEARS' ALLOWANCE TO FIX FROM THE LAST TIME I CAME TO THIS DUMP!" Youngblood shouted.

"I'd ask why you came back…" came Danny's voice from behind Youngblood as he became visible and sent the punk flying with a well-placed punch to his solar plexus. "…But then again, I don't really give a damn as long as no one's actually hurt."

"What about your friend? You know, the Kamoa?"

"Just a flesh wound." Ash's voice came as he flapped his wings, causing him to rise into sight. "I told you that you had NO CHANCE against me." Youngblood looked freaked out that Ash was alive, and visibly barely phased by the cannonball hitting into him. Suddenly, more ghost pirates rose from the depths of the ship and pointed every cannon toward Ash.

"So I have no chance against you, huh? Well, let's find out! Even a Kamoa couldn't survive THIS MANY FREAKING CANNONS at once!" Youngblood looked triumphant, as Ash frowned slightly in response.

"What the…?" Riku said out loud, suddenly feeling a massive energy level coming from the west. Youngblood must have sensed it too, for he turned to face the source of the energy…

"Hey! Gonna help me wipe him out?" he called excitedly to none other than Kensuke Raderia, who stood atop a tall building with a frown on his face.

"Help… yes, I'm going to do a thing very much like that." Kensuke responded, bringing his arms to his right side as blue energy began to gather in them.

'That attack…!' Ash thought, wide-eyed as he immediately flew out of the way, avoiding cannonball retribution due to the pirates being transfixed by the amount of energy Kensuke was giving off.

"Uh… Kensuke? He changed directions." Youngblood pointed out, before his eyes went freakishly wide upon Kensuke unleashing his Kamehameha toward the ship.

"OH SHIT!" Danny and Riku shouted simultaneously, scampering quickly away. The Kamehameha turned the ship itself into a smoking husk, barely missing Danny and Riku.

"MY SHIP! DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I BOSSED PEOPLE AROUND INTO BUILDING THAT FOR ME?! IT'S RUINED!" Youngblood shouted. "Ugh… I don't see how this could POSSIBLY get any worse!"

"THIS could hit your ship." Ash said, starting up his motions for the Neo Spirit Slash. "Oh wait, it's going to. On the plus side, you won't ever have to worry about it again." As the swirling blue energy gathered into his Soul Sword, he moved his left hand away from it, forming the Rift Sword. As the energy finished gathering, he raised the two above his head and let loose with a powerful Neo Spirit Slash, which sliced both the remains of Youngblood's ship AND Youngblood himself in half. Youngblood let out a final scream as he exploded into ectoplasmic goo, his ship following suit. As the smoke cleared, the only traces that Youngblood had been there were found in the large amounts of ectoplasmic goo covering the surrounding buildings. Ash turned to face his brother, who had already vanished.

'He wasn't aiming at me… he specifically intended to waste Youngblood's ship. Was he… trying to protect Mom…?'

"Hey Ketchum… what the hell was HE doing here?!" Wayne called out.

"How should I know?" Ash responded, as they descended to the ground, where Jazz, Jenny, and Delia waited for them.

"Ash!" Delia cried out, running over and hugging her son.

"We thought you'd…!" Jazz trailed off, looking away.

"Pathetic." Was Ash's curt response to the two women who cared more for him than anyone else in the world. "That guy wasn't even a MINOR threat."

"…" Delia backed away from her son for a second, changing the subject. "Was that…?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, who shot that enormous blast?" Jazz suddenly asked.

"THAT… would be my predecessor. Kensuke Raderia." Ash said, looking back up and noticing that Kensuke was once again standing there. For the first time, Jazz got to look at the man that had been Spirit Detective before her boyfriend, and she did so almost with a look of horror.

"He looks—"

"Just like me. I know." Ash grumbled, starting to walk away.

"Ash! Didn't you have something to tell Jazz here?!" Delia suggested.

"Yeah." Ash said without turning around. "Change of plans. Won't be able to make it to supper with your folks." His wings then sprouted.

"Ash! Don't walk away from your problems!" Delia protested.

"…" Still not turning around, Ash finally spoke up again. "I'll be home in a couple of hours." He then took off.

"Why is he doing this…?" Jazz asked, on the verge of tears.

"How could he…?" Delia asked.

"Yeah, YOU'RE allowed to ask that kind of question." Wayne commented dryly.

"What do you mean by that?!" Delia looked a tad upset at Wayne.

"YOU'RE the one who hid Ketchum's past from him. You could've just TOLD him everything he found out at the Kamoa Paradise!" Wayne shouted. "Jazz was right about that all along!"

"I know… and I should have. I can't rewrite the past, though." Delia said, looking up and noticing that Kensuke was no longer standing atop the building, then letting out a surprised cry when he appeared in front of her.

"Hello." Kensuke greeted coldly.

"What are you doing here? Why did you help Ash?" Delia immediately asked.

"Would you rather I'd have left him there to die?" was Kensuke's response. "Very well then, next time, he's boned. Or have you not noticed that he's putting on a brave face to try to stand up to me?"

"But why would he—"

"Because he has no chance to defeat me. Ever." Kensuke replied.

"You think you're all-powerful, don't you?" Jazz suddenly spoke up, a frown on her face. "Well, I don't know who you are, but Ash already has you beaten!"

"Enma said the same thing when I paid him a visit earlier." Kensuke commented, gazing at Jazz. "Here's the thing… physically, 'Ash' is very weak. Even my former master, who my friends and I surpassed by leaps and bounds, could slay him in his current state. Emotionally, he's powerful. If I were to threaten you, his output would increase TENFOLD. However, unlike him, my power is fully realized. Nobody can get to me with my 'loved ones'. For you see… 'Ash', while strengthened by the threat of violence against his loved ones, is also WEAKENED by it." He went on to explain. "…Or did you fail to notice when he hesitated to kill Youngblood? He didn't want to put you in danger."

"When was that ever considered weak?!" Delia shouted, tears in her eyes. "Sardius would have done the same thing for you that he did for us had the Unmaker not attacked the Empire that day!"

"Don't talk about my father." Kensuke grumbled. "That's a subject I'll silence you on… by force, if necessary." He finished by gently, slowly lifting the silver broadsword on his back to make his point. "Even you… have no right to talk about him."

"Don't tell me I don't have the right to talk about your father!" Delia snapped back.

"Pulling a sword on your own—" Wayne spoke up, then cut himself off as Kensuke's glare turned to him. "You're scum. We'll kick your ass AND the asses of your friends."

"Good luck with that." Kensuke let out a monosyllabic chuckle as he finished saying those words, reflecting on when he'd said that to Ash at the Kamoa Paradise. He then turned around, his wings sprouting as he flew off.

"His own… what?" Jazz turned to Wayne immediately."What is he to Mrs. Ketchum?"

"…Let Ash tell you." Delia spoke up sternly.

"What's to stop me from doing that right now?" Wayne asked with a frown. "Jenny, Riku, and I all know the truth as well."

"Because this is something Ash needs to do."

"Ketchum isn't GOING to tell her the truth!" Wayne shouted. "He's got a hard enough time accepting it himself! You and Enma LIED to him his **ENTIRE LIFE!**"

"I was just trying to protect him!" Delia shouted back. "He needed to avoid this life! I wanted him to grow up living like a normal boy!"

"His race watched over TIME ITSELF. Did you REALLY think he could have gone his entire life wondering why he was the ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD with those strange zigzag birthmarks on his cheeks?!" Wayne interjected angrily. "I did a background check on the guy you married after moving to the dimension you and Ketchum lived in for fourteen years. He doesn't have them either. Only a Kamoa does. Only Ketchum, Kensuke, and Tatsuke are left to bear those birthmarks."

"Who's Tatsuke?" both Jazz and Jimmy asked.

"There was an ENTIRE CITY of Kamoa until a year ago when Ketchum visited!" Wayne continued on, ignoring the question his companions asked. "And why did he visit?! Because his entire LIFE was a sham! You and Enma covered everything up and caused the near-extinction of the Kamoa race! _CONGRATU-FUCKING-LATIONS!_ Was it worth it?!" he finished by throwing his left arm up like he was about to get violent with Delia.

"That's ENOUGH, Wayne!" Riku shouted, grabbing his friend's right arm and causing him to wince noticeably. "Stand down!" Wayne snarled up in response to Riku, then pried himself away from his best friend's grip. He sulked off wordlessly immediately afterward. Jazz glared over at Delia wordlessly before walking off as well, followed by Riku and Jimmy, leaving only Jenny and Danny standing there with Delia, the latter of whom hadn't even noticed the rain starting to fall. Instead, she started to cry. "Jenny, am… am I a bad mother?"

"…No." Jenny spoke up. "Maybe you SHOULD have told Ash who he was, maybe you shouldn't have. You know you were protecting him, regardless of the consequence that he might grow to hate you. I think Enma was doing the same thing."

"Is there anyone to blame for this mess?" Delia asked.

"Just one person. The Unmaker. He wanted your son's race dead. Now he's using your OTHER son to make it happen." Jenny immediately covered her mouth afterward, realizing that she'd given the truth away.

"Other… son?!" Danny said slowly, his eyes widening immensely. "That CREEP is Ash's BROTHER?!"

"Yes, he is… please don't tell your sister, Danny." Delia asked, which caused him to stare in disbelief for a second before shaking his head and screaming "_WHY?!_ WHY SHOULDN'T I TELL HER THE TRUTH?!"

"Because she needs to hear it from him. Your sister NEEDS to know that Ash trusts her enough to tell her this information." Delia commented. Danny wordlessly gritted his teeth, let out a growl, and flew off.

"Don't worry… I'm sure he understands deep down that you're trying to strengthen the bond between his sister and your son." Jenny explained.

"…" Delia remained silent, looking up at the sky as the rain continued to fall.

* * *

As Kensuke landed once more in front of Walker's prison, Vikki stood there to greet him along with Kitrala and Zenki. Immediately, the latter two could tell their friend/leader was in a sour mood.

"Ken…? What's wrong?" Zenki asked immediately. Vikki, ignoring this, held out her hand for introductions.

"So you're Kensuke. My name is Vict-" she started, but was immediately cut off by Kensuke's curt response.

"Put it down. I have no desire to shake it. I don't give a damn who you are." He said, brushing past her and his friends.

"Kensuke…" Kitrala spoke up softly, sounding concerned for her friend.

"He's giving up everything from his past to do this… I think he's wondering if he made the right call in doing so." Zenki said, as if he could read his best friend's mind. "It wasn't hard to do until he saw Botan."

'So that's their leader…' Vikki repeated mentally. 'Kind of handsome, I have to say…' she trailed off, a slight bit of red appearing on her cheeks as she turned back toward the Ghost Prison with Zenki and Kitrala…

* * *

"I can't do this…" Ash sighed, feeling like he was on the verge of tears. "I can't just say 'Oh hey Jazz, that guy I'm supposed to kill? HE'S MY BROTHER.'" He looked down at a tiny flask in his hand, the stench of liquor wafting from it as he took a long swig, letting out a sigh as he came to a decision about what to do…


	54. Greasepit Groove

Pokewing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 54: Greasepit Groove

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

Disclaimer. Episodes 1, 25, 51, and the movies. YAR.

* * *

It was impossible to tell what time it was currently for Kensuke Raderia, for time was meaningless in the Ghost Zone. However, since Johnny 13 was parked outside of Walker's prison, putting the finishing touches on his bike, he could only assume it was night time. He called out to the young -ish?- ghost before him. "Hey you!"

"What do you want?" Johnny sounded cranky.

"Johnny 13, right?"

"Who wants to know?"

"The name's Kensuke Raderia. I wanted to see if you would do me a favor."

"Depends on what it is…" Johnny trailed off, slyly smirking. "And what you've got to give me in exchange."

"Fair enough. Walker tells me you can go between the Ghost Zone and Amity Park thanks to some device you swiped from the ghost kid's parents."

"He's tellin' the truth. Are you going somewhere with this?" Johnny's smirk faded, replaced by a bored expression.

"How'd you like to travel between the Ghost Zone and EVERY dimension?" Kensuke asked with a smirk of his own.

"Ridin' all over the universe, huh? Sounds bitchin', but how do I know you aren't just makin' this up?" Johnny looked skeptical.

"Allow me to demonstrate the power of the object I'll give you if you do what I asked you to." Kensuke held up a small blue crystal, attaching it to his broadsword as he removed it. He slashed open a giant portal, which Johnny peeked through.

"Where the hell is THAT?"

"Place I used to visit back when I was trying to save this stupid universe." Kensuke commented nonchalantly. "Now do you believe me?"

"…What'cha want me to do, Kenny?" Johnny asked, a mischievous grin on his face.

"Know this girl? Walker told me you did." Kensuke held up a picture of a very familiar redhead.

"Oh yeah, I used to date her."

"Get her away from this guy." Kensuke held up another picture, this time of our hero, Ash.

"Hey, that's the kid that saved Amity Park a year and a half ago when we all invaded it!"

"He's too busy throwing pity parties to be of any threat to you. He's wondering why his older brother wants him dead." Kensuke smirked.

"…" Johnny 13 paused, looking at the picture, then up at Kensuke. "You're messed up. Why d'ya wanna kill your younger brother?"

"That's my business. Now, you gonna do this or not?" Kensuke held up the strange blue crystalline rock again.

"When do we start?" Johnny responded with a grin.

* * *

(Title) Greasepit Groove

(Subtitle) Take a ride on the horrifying side!

(Image) An enraged Ash is chasing Johnny 13, who's speeding down a highway with Jazz, who's holding her hand out for Ash to grab.

(Jingle) Synthesizer

Guest Voices:

Steve Blum – Kensuke

William Baldwin – Johnny 13

Samuel Vincent – Zenki

Wendee Lee – Kitrala

Michelle Ruff – Vikki

* * *

As the day began, Ash dragged himself out of bed to answer the knocking at his bedroom door. He had an annoyed look on his face as Brock greeted him.

"Man, I'm trying to sleep."

"It's noon already. Just thought you'd like to know." Brock said.

"Oh shit, really?!" He seemed to perk up a bit, but the drinking binge he'd went on the night before was taking its toll on him as he felt the beginnings of a migraine.

"Are you okay?" Brock looked worried for his friend.

"I'm fine." Ash responded quickly. "Got any coffee?"

"…You got drunk last night, didn't you?" Brock put two and two together, frowning as he did so.

"What's it to you?" Ash held up a fist that pretty much said 'Back the hell off.'

"Nothing, just saying maybe you shouldn't get drunk all the time. You were drunk the night before last, too." Brock pointed out. "Is this about that guy Kensuke?" Ash winced at the name. "I don't know who or WHAT he is, but you shouldn't let him get to you."

"Did I ASK for your advice?" Ash snarled.

"…No. Coffee's in the kitchen. Get it yourself." Brock turned around, storming off in a huff. Ash stared after him for a minute before lumbering into the kitchen and pouring himself a cup of coffee, paying absolutely no attention to Delia, who waved good morning at him. He leaned on the counter top and took a sip, nearly dropping his coffee as the phone rang. Delia hurried over and answered it. Ash could only make out his mother's side of the conversation, but he knew right away who she was talking to.

"Hello? Oh hi, Jazz. Yes, he's finally awake."

'Oh shit. I forgot. I was supposed to go to the library with Jazz this morning.' Ash thought.

"Here he is." He heard Delia say, then she wordlessly handed the cordless phone to him.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked in a dull, low voice.

"You were supposed to meet me at the library an hour ago! Why the hell did you sleep in so late?!" he could hear Jazz nearly shout into her receiver, causing him to wince.

"Keep it down. I have a migraine." He sighed loudly, drinking some more coffee as he finished speaking.

"A mi—ASH! You got drunk AGAIN?!"

"Hey, what I do on my own time is my business, not yours." Ash grumbled. "I'll be over there in about an hour. Later." He hung up the phone in a huff, slowly finishing off the rest of his coffee before grabbing his keys off of the counter and wordlessly exiting the house. As he stepped out the front door and down the three steps to his driveway, he just barely dodged being run over by a greasy blonde-haired punk on a motorcycle. "Jesus!" he shouted, as he slowly climbed to his feet and drew his Soul Sword.

"Whoops! Sorry about that!" Johnny 13 laughed. "My baby seems to have a mind of her own!"

"What the hell do you want, punk?" Ash growled, pointing the sword at the grungy ghost rider.

"Name's Johnny 13. Had a bit of an accident with the ol' bike here. Sorry about that." He offered out his hand for a friendly shake, which Ash reluctantly took. As they finished shaking, Johnny waved and took off.

"Weird guy… why'd I get the heebie-jeebies around him?" Ash wondered aloud, before walking over to his car, abandoning thoughts of the 'weird guy' he'd just met and heading toward the library…

* * *

As Kensuke descended into Amity Park, he quickly stepped into the café across the street from the library. There, at a table in the corner, sat Zenki and Kitrala, eating with Vlad and Vikki.

"There you are." Zenki greeted Kensuke, motioning him over. "Vlad Masters, this is our leader and my best friend, Kensuke Raderia."

"Hello, Kensuke." Vlad greeted politely, grinning widely, though the grin was obviously fake.

"Greetings." Kensuke gave a half-smirk as he took Vlad's hand, giving it a vigorous shake. "I heard from Zenki when you hired him and Kitrala a year ago that you want my younger brother dead."

"Yes…" Vlad trailed off, looking around the café to see if anyone was listening in, then continuing. "I have a question, though… why do YOU want him dead?"

"What makes you think I want him dead?" Kensuke's smirk faded.

"A number of things, really. For starters, I KNOW you're stronger than me. The second I asked for your brother's head, you would have killed me on the spot if it didn't line up with your own plans for him."

"Smart man. No wonder you've always been several steps ahead of Danny Phantom when the two of you were fighting." Kensuke's smirk returned in full force.

"There's also the matter that I have a bit of an information system within the Ghost Zone. I know you talked to Johnny 13 about setting him up to die." Vlad continued. "And third, even if those other two weren't blatantly obvious, Zenki told me as such a year ago when I met him."

"Did he now…?" Kensuke's eyebrows raised almost unnoticeably to everyone at the table but Zenki. "I wasn't aware my grudge with my brother was 'need to know' information."

"Sorry Ken. I thought it'd be better if he knew what he was asking of us BEFORE we said yes." Zenki explained.

"It's all good. You've got serious balls, Masters." Kensuke's smirk widened into a bit of a smartass grin. "You're asking a guy who's as strong as a GOD to help you kill his younger brother. You agreed to our conditions because he's been a bigger pain in your ass than even the ghost boy."

"I wouldn't put it so crudely, but yes… he has been a thorn in my side for FAR too long now."

"And yet… he has no idea you're even back in Amity Park." Kensuke's grin faded once more. "Do you know what he's been doing since he got back? Drinking. A LOT of drinking."

"Why?" Vikki spoke up.

"Would YOU want to kill your older brother?" Kitrala answered in place of her leader. "Asheron Raderia is struggling with the newfound knowledge of his past life IN ADDITION to the knowledge that he has an older brother."

"But WHY do you want him dead?!" Vikki nearly shouted. "He's your brother!"

"…He's in my way." Kensuke answered coldly. "The power he stole in the Kamoa Paradise… it should be MINE. I need it to stop the Unmaker."

"Who's the Unmaker?" Vikki asked.

"You were training when that fight took place." Vlad explained. "…He's that demon that was inside of Wayne."

"Wrong." Zenki corrected harshly. "That THING wasn't even worthy of calling itself a god. It died a lonely death when the Core Dimension exploded. The REAL Unmaker is a being of unimaginable power."

"How much power are we talking here?" Vikki looked worried.

"… We didn't sense an end to it." Kitrala answered, her voice almost a whisper.

"My god… how do you fight something with no end to its power?"

"It's not going to be easy. We only contained him the last time. When he awakens again, we need to KILL him." Zenki explained. "But enough about our ultimate objective. Onto the reason we're here. Vlad?"

"Right." Vlad wiped his mouth tidily, then continued. "As you know, the day you promised to kill Ash Ketchum is drawing ever nearer. He's regained a lot of power, but he's still far too low of a threat on your 'radar', so to speak."

"I'm handling that." Kensuke responded. "That's why Johnny 13 is here. I'm testing Asheron's ability to increase his Spirit Energy in situations where the people he loves are in danger. Afterwards, I'll test his ability to increase his power under normal circumstances."

"And if he fails those tests?" Vlad asked.

"I'll bypass Enma's Mafukan spell and have Asheron unleash his full fury." Kensuke said.

"Can you do that, Ken?" Kitrala looked confused.

"Of course I can. I'm Kensuke Raderia. Nothing is impossible for me." Kensuke was matter-of-fact in his response. "Not even eliminating the Unmaker."

"I hope for your sake he can control that power." Kitrala said, looking down into her cup of coffee.

"He IS our father's son…" Kensuke also glanced downward.

* * *

"Sorry I'm late." Ash bowed slightly to Jazz as he sat down.

"…Why have you been getting drunk every night?" she finally spoke up after a minute of silence. "I almost understood the need to cut loose when you fed me that excuse, but you aren't even getting enjoyment out of it. Your mom and Brock said you've been EXTREMELY depressed about whatever it is that you found out about. You can tell me." Silence from Ash prompted her to continue. "I'm your girlfriend. If you think I won't love you over whatever it is that you've been hiding from me, you're wrong." She smiled.

"You really think that nothing will change your mind about me?" Ash asked, his voice a hoarse-ish monotone.

"Yes I do."

"Okay then." He stood up and turned around, getting ready to head back out the door he'd just come in from, but before he did, he slightly turned his head. "I killed the Kamoa. ALL of them. Still love me now?" he frowned, his eyes hidden in shadow. He heard Jazz try to form some sort of response, but before she could succeed, he continued. "Yeah. Didn't think so. See ya around." And with that, Ash departed from the library, without once turning back. It only took a second for Jazz to follow behind him. As she got outside, though, he sped off in a flash. "ASH!" she yelled out to him, but it was too late… at that moment, Johnny 13 pulled up beside her.

"Hey beautiful! Long time no see!"

"Johnny?! What are you doing here? Danny's going to raise all kinds of hell if he sees you around me!" Jazz took a step back. "Don't think I won't call him, creep."

"He knows I'm here. I'm not here to do anything to, or with, you… well, nothing BAD anyway. Wanna help out your boyfriend?" Johnny smirked.

"Wait… you want to HELP?"

"That Kensuke guy hired me, to distract him, but I play by my own rules." Johnny smirked, holding up a piece of Dimensium: the very same piece Kensuke had promised him upon completion of his task. "He WAS gonna pay me with this, but I stole it. He wanted to kill your boyfriend, but I figure that'd be a bad thing. Guy gave me the creeps." He explained.

"So how are we going to help Ash?"

"First we need to catch up. Hop on!" Johnny tossed Jazz a motorcycle helmet, which she quickly donned, getting on to Johnny's bike. The two then sped off in Ash's direction. As they drew nearer to the sixteen year old's car, Ash noticed the two of them gaining on him and sped up accordingly. "Sorry Jazz…" he said to himself. "We can't be together after everything that's happened." He increased speed, prompting Johnny to do the same in response. As they reached dangerous speeds, Ash heard the loud wail of sirens, but he knew he had to get away from Jazz. After all, his harsh treatment of her was for her benefit… wasn't it? He heard Jazz say something, but the only thing on his mind was the revelation that had been dropped on him a year ago.

"ASH! WE NEED TO TALK!" Jazz shouted as Johnny pulled up beside the car. Ash heard something else, though.

"...You're too soft." Kensuke snarled.

"I'm not soft…" he said quietly to himself. "I'm doing this, aren't I? I can take you on at your own level."

"But at what cost?" he heard the voice of Nalia in his mind. "Do you REALLY want to be like him?"

"Is there another way to beat him?!" he argued with his cousin. "I can't take him on if he has someone else around me to hurt! That's the difference between us! I still give a damn about other people!"

"I think he WANTS us to win." He remembered what Enma said right after he'd battled his brother.

"HOW?! He's too strong! He'll just use Mom, Jazz, or even you against me, even if I CAN match his strength!" he shouted. Jazz had managed to overhear that bit of information.

"Is… is THAT why he's been cold?" she asked.

"Dunno, but we gotta get him to stop before those cops ruin his little epiphany." Johnny commented.

"ASH! WHATEVER YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT, YOU DON'T HAVE TO FACE IT ALONE! I'M HERE FOR YOU, AND I ALWAYS WILL BE!" she shouted at the top of her lungs."I'M SORRY I COULDN'T SAY ANYTHING TO YOU A FEW MINUTES AGO! BUT I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT NO MATTER WHAT, I LOVE YOU!"

"…" Ash stared on, before stepping on the brake, slowing down. He slowed down just in time, too, barely avoiding rear-ending another car. As he stopped, the police pulled up behind the three.

"Son, you're aware you were going nearly 100 even back there, right?" the officer asked as he walked up to Ash.

"Sorry about that…" Ash said, both to the police officer and to Jazz and Johnny. "I had a lot on my mind."

"Well…" the officer trailed off."No one was hurt. But I will have to give you a ticket for speeding, kid." The officer handed Ash a ticket.

"You know what? I'll take care of it." Jazz smiled, pulling out two bills: a twenty and a five, respectively. "We'll take him on down to the courthouse to get this paid off, sir."

"Very well. You kids drive safe." The officer turned, walked to his car, and drove off. Ash then turned to Jazz. "Thanks."

"Just tell me this… I overheard you talking about protecting me… were you lying about killing the Kamoa?"

"…Not technically. I didn't kill them directly. It was an accident." Ash admitted.

"I knew it!" Jazz exclaimed. "What happened?"

"…" Ash remained silent, prompting Johnny to speak up.

"Hey man, can't you see she's worried about you?! Whatever happened, just TELL her!"

"Why the hell are you even here? This has nothing to do with you or any of your damn ghost buddies!"

"How did you know—"

"That you're a ghost? I could tell the second you nearly ran me over!" Ash shouted. "Did Kensuke send you too?!"

"Yeah… but I had a change of heart. You're doing yourself in faster than I ever could. I kinda felt sorry for ya."

"Well, you can save your pity." Ash grumbled. "I'm fine."

"Yeah, you clutching your head in agony is a PERFECT sign of your good health." Johnny argued.

"Johnny, please… I'll handle this." Jazz nodded back to him. "Thanks for what you did for me."

"Yup." Johnny nodded back, as Jazz got off the motorcycle and walked up to Ash. He revved up his motorcycle and sped off.

"Ash… you trusted me enough to tell me that the death of the Kamoa was an accident caused by you. There's something else on your mind. What is it?" Jazz asked.

"Indeed. Why are you so worked up?" came the familiar voice of Kensuke, causing Ash to turn around, seeing his older brother standing there, frowning with his arms crossed.

"You know what it is." Ash said.

"Yeah, you're getting bent out of shape because you can't accept your past." Kensuke summarized. "Now get help."

"Get bent." Was Ash's response.

"See? That. That right there. That's what's wrong with you." Kensuke said. "You need help, Asheron."

"…Asheron?" Jazz asked, looking over at Ash in shock.

"My full first name." Ash explained. "Any other things you want to tell her, Kensuke?"

"I think that's your business. Or you could keep silent, let this build up, and turn into the same kind of monster you seem to think I am."

"You ARE a damn monster! YOU built that energy-draining machine!" Ash shouted. "All I wanted to do is find out who my dad was!"

"And now you know who he is. Yet you're still messed up." Kensuke explained.

"All because of YOU! YOU knew the ENTIRE TIME who I was when I had amnesia, and you said nothing!"

"Would it have changed anything if I'd told you from the start?" Kensuke asked flatly. "Knowing who I was a day before you found out wouldn't have made any difference at all."

"Who you were…?" Jazz thought aloud, before letting out a small gasp. "You're his f—"

"No. I'm not Asheron's father. I knew him quite well, though." Kensuke told a half-truth. "He was a great man." This time, Kensuke was telling the full truth.

"So I'm told." Ash commented dryly.

"You can be great too, Asheron. Join me, and we'll destroy the Unmaker once and for all!"

"You already know my answer. Why do you even bother asking? I won't be part of a group that takes lives in the name of vengeance. You can call it whatever you want, but you're out for one thing: revenge against the Unmaker."

"I believe I told you before why you can't even BEGIN to comprehend my win at all costs strategy, but here's something you MIGHT begin to grasp in that feeble mind of yours." Kensuke chastised his younger brother, closing his eyes before he continued. "Remember how frighteningly powerful Shadow Wayne was?"

"How could I forget? He nearly wiped out the Dimensional Universe."

"Now imagine that times a HUNDRED and you might be close to ten percent of what the Unmaker's capable of." Kensuke's eyes widened considerably to accentuate his point.

"…" Ash stared on in wide-eyed horror. "You're lying. Nothing's that strong."

"Am I?" Kensuke's lips formed into a half-smirk. "Ask Enma. He'll tell you. This is why we need to work together."

"He doesn't need you!" Jazz protested. "He's got all of us backing him up!"

"…Cute." Kensuke chuckled. "I know your energy rose from two to over one million in a fraction of a second during the Shadow Wayne fight."

"That's right, you son of a b—"

"Ash's energy when he fought me was about twenty-five million." Kensuke interjected. "We're still WAY out of your league, woman."

"Then I'll train her!" Ash argued. And we WILL beat the shit out of you and all your friends!"

"Well I wish you the best of luck with that, Asheron." Kensuke laughed again. "By the way, I felt obliged to inform you that Zenki's coming to kill you in five months."

"Bring him on. I'll stop him or die trying." Ash growled. Kensuke's answer was simply to sprout his wings and wordlessly fly away. Jazz put her right arm around Ash.

"You'll beat him. Don't worry."

"I gotta get back home." Ash said.

"I'll go with you."

* * *

As Ash and Jazz entered through the front door of House Ketchum, Delia turned and greeted them.

"Hello! Ash, a letter came for you." Delia said, handing him the aforementioned letter.

"It's… from Tatsuke." Ash gasped out.

"Who's Tatsuke?" Jazz pondered aloud.

"My cousin. Let's see what he has to say…" he trailed off, opening the letter and reading it silently. The letter read:

Dear Cousin Ash,

How are you? I've been exploring a few dimensions, such as Mushiyori City and Amestris. I heard your name dropped by a guy named Yusuke, so I thought I'd send you a letter via your ferry girl, Botan. I wanted to let you know that I found the perfect field of flowers, so I have buried my father and my sister. I want you to come visit, as you promised. This letter has another purpose, however. I want to remind you that none of what happened was your fault. As I said the day after it happened, this may have been our fate all along for being so afraid to join with the rest of humanity. I have met many humans in my travels now, and I must say, they are wonderful creatures. We have a duty to protect them from the evil of the Unmaker, but do not let that duty take away from what you love. That girl you mentioned, Jazz… obviously you care about her a great deal. You should fight to protect her, and to protect your mother. Both of them are your support unit, just as Father and Nalia were mine. Don't toss them away just to be better than that traitor. I plan to pay you a visit soon. I hope you'll take my advice to heart. You are better than that murderer, I know you'll do what's right.

Your cousin,

Tatsuke

"Idiot…" Ash said, tears running down his face.

"He's an idiot for giving good advice?" Delia looked shocked.

"No… I'm the idiot." Ash admitted. "I was so wrapped up in my problems that I failed to see what's right in front of me."

"I don't think you FAILED. You see it now." Jazz explained. After a few more seconds of silence, Ash spoke up again in a hoarse whisper.

"…I need help."


	55. Green with Envy

Pokewing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 55: Green with Envy  
A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

Disclaimer. Episodes 1, 25, 51, and the movies. HUZZAH.  
Most of the next two episodes are in flashback. Fairly warned be ye.

* * *

Two weeks had passed since Tatsuke's letter had arrived. Since then, Ash had visited his family's grave. He then went on to admit to Jazz that he found family in the Kamoa Paradise aside from Tatsuke, but he didn't say much else aside from that. When prompted to tell about the hinted familial relationship between him and Kensuke, however, he'd still clammed up. Now he sat in the office of Jazz's psychology teacher, who also worked as a therapist close to the city limits. He read a magazine, though he wasn't really reading it. Rather, he was giving everyone around him the illusion of him reading so they wouldn't bug him about what's on his mind. He now thought about how easily Jazz accepted his false confession to murder. Could he really trust her with the information that he was the younger brother of the real murderer? Before he could think further on the information, the receptionist spoke up.  
"Ketchum! Ash Ketchum! The doctor will see you now!"  
"Thanks." Ash said, getting up and walking over to the door. He followed the receptionist to the door, which she opened, gesturing him to walk in. As he did, the receptionist shut it behind him. He gazed over, seeing his therapist. He had to admit, she was beautiful. She had long, red hair that cascaded down her back, stopping at her waist. Her bluish-green eyes were nearly hidden behind an extremely thick pair of glasses. She wore a white lab coat similar to the one Wayne used to wear, only shorter in length. Ash thought she bore a resemblance to Jazz due to the length of her hair, but rather than Jazz's light red hair, the therapist's hair color was almost blood red. Aside from that, Ash imagined that this might be what Jazz would look like in ten years. After a few seconds of silence, she spoke up.  
"Hello Ash, I'm Dr. Zalmanov. You may have a seat whenever you'd like. Or if you'd prefer to stand, I'm comfortable with that too. Do whatever you like."  
"I'll sit. It's gonna be a long story about my problems anyway." Ash sighed, taking a seat on the leather sofa.  
"Alright, why don't we begin that story? First tell me what's troubling you recently…" Dr. Zalmanov gestured for Ash to start.  
"Well, something particularly troubling went on a couple of days ago…"

* * *

(Title) Green with Envy  
(Subtitle) The other episodes are jealous of this one.  
(Image) Lancer is booting Wayne out of the doors to Casper High, an evilly grinning possessed Dash behind him as he does so.  
(Jingle) Electric Guitar  
Guest Voices:  
Wendee Lee - Dr. Zalmanov  
Tara Strong - Penelope Spectra  
Jim Ward - Bertrand

* * *

"And that's another touchdown by Williams! Ravens win!" the announcer shouted ecstatically. It was Saturday night, and all of Team Ketchum was assembled watching the football game going on. Wayne had become a rising football star despite the state of his right arm. Learning to play left-handed, he signed up for the football team at the beginning of the school year, and was originally a benchwarmer until star quarterback Dash Baxter had been injured one night in a game. Given a chance to prove himself, Wayne succeeded with flying colors. Soon afterward, he was considered to be as good as Dash, replacing him every other game. This was one of those "other" games. As Dash sat on the sidelines, he growled to himself. "Man, what does that jerk got that I don't?!"  
"Proper grammar, for one thing." Wayne smirked, leaning in toward Dash. "And a HELL of an arm. Better luck next game, Baxter!" He whooped loudly as his teammates hefted him into the air, cheering obnoxiously as they dumped a bucket full of Gatorade onto Wayne's head. "VICTORY IS SWEET!" he shouted, drawing more cheers from his fellow football players. Dash just growled in response.

* * *

After the game, Team Ketchum was celebrating at the Nasty Burger, with Sam, Tucker, Aimee, and Jazz all in attendance.  
"Man, you rocked that game, Wayne!" Danny grinned widely.  
"I know, right?" Wayne smirked confidently in response. "I'm on top of the fucking world. Kickass job, beautiful wife…" he drew Aimee next to him using his good arm. "…and the adulation of my peers."  
"Bet you don't miss it when we were kicking your ass all over the place, eh?" Jenny smirked sarcastically.  
"Those were flukes, Wakeman." Wayne joked.  
"Funny. You bled really convincingly when I broke your nose." Ash pointed out, no hint of happiness on his face. "Or was that just a show to lure us into a false sense of security so we wouldn't kick your ass AS bad the next time?"  
"Funny guy." Wayne commented dryly. "See. I'm not even gonna let that one get me down, Ketchum!"  
"Good for you…?" Ash shrugged. "'Scuse me. Gotta go to the bathroom… back at home." He excused himself, walking away.  
"What's with him?" Sam asked. "He's been all mopey since he got back to Amity Park a year ago."  
"He found out his dad's dead." Jazz explained, frowning after her boyfriend.  
"Wait… he told you the truth?!" Wayne looked stunned.  
"Yeah, he told me about his father being dead…" Jazz paused, noticing that everyone but Sam, Tucker, and Valerie had a serious look on their faces. "What's with the looks?"  
"That's not all of the truth, Jazz." Danny admitted. "There's more to it than that."  
"Oh jeez… YOU knew as well?!" Jazz shouted, throwing up her arms. "What, is this a big joke everyone's playing on me?! 'Oh hey, let's hide what Ash found out while he was at the Kamoa Paradise from Jazz! That'll be HILARIOUS!' Oh yeah, it was so hilarious, wasn't it?! Just like that time nobody told me that Wayne wanted to kill me and everyone else in Amity Park!" Everyone else in the Nasty Burger at that time turned their heads toward the outraged redhead. "What the HELL are you people looking at?!" she screamed.  
"Jazz, I—" Danny started.  
"…I had only ever kept one thing from you before." Jazz said in a hoarse whisper. "I knew your secret identity from the time Spectra was the guidance counselor for Casper High. I said nothing, because I figured you would tell me when the time came that you thought I should know your secret."  
"And then you revealed it to me anyway… you were protecting me in secret." Danny spoke up. Jazz started to speak up, but Danny held up a hand to silence her. "Shut up. Ash is protecting you by not telling you this secret. He's protecting you from that guy we saw when we killed Youngblood. I didn't get it when his mom told me not to say anything to you, but now I get WHY she said that. Kensuke wouldn't hesitate to use you against him… in fact, he already IS."  
"Just tell me this… is there a past connection between the two? Or did they meet at the Kamoa Paradise?" Jazz asked.  
"There is… and there isn't. Kensuke knew Ketchum for about three days before they parted ways…" Wayne said.  
"For a LONG time." Jenny added cryptically.  
"Well… yeah, fifteen years is pretty long." Jazz muttered.  
"The point is… Kensuke's using this knowledge that Ash has against him." Jenny explained.  
"How? They knew each other for three days! Ash was a baby when they first met!" Jazz argued. "WHY does he want Ash dead?!"  
"He's in Kensuke's way." Was Riku's almost emotionless answer.

* * *

"Hold on there, Ash. Who IS this man Kensuke?" Dr. Zalmanov interrupted Ash's retelling of the story. "Clearly he's the root of this problem."  
"He's nobody." Ash shrugged.  
"If he was nobody, then you wouldn't be here." Dr. Zalmanov correctly guessed.  
"Do you mind if I finish the story first?" Ash sighed. "It has a point, I promise you."  
"…Proceed." Dr. Zalmanov returned the sigh.  
"I'll skip ahead to spare you some of the finer details, but apparently that night something ended up happening. Some talks had been going on behind everyone's backs."  
"Okay, now you're just screwing with me. How does this possibly affect you in ANY way?"  
"Because it deals with one of my closest, if unwilling, comrades, which in turn affects me."  
"Only indirectly, Ash." Dr. Zalmanov was getting angry. "I told you to tell me a story about YOU, not your football-obsessed acquaintance."  
"It does have to do with me. Just LET ME FINISH!" Ash shouted in response. Dr. Zalmanov sat there for a second before she nodded. "I apologize. Maybe it DOES have something to do with you."  
"That's what I said from the beginning!" Ash protested. "Anyway… the next morning, all hell broke loose for Wayne…"

* * *

"What the hell are you TALKING ABOUT?!" Wayne shouted angrily, throwing up his left arm. He had been called to the principal's office earlier that day.  
"You stole several of our trophies from the past three years, Mister Williams." Lancer stated coldly. "We have video evidence."  
"Your video evidence is BULLSHIT because I was at home last night." Wayne protested. Wordlessly, however, Lancer started the video, and sure enough, the image recorded by the security camera was of Wayne stealing several golden football trophies from the case on display in the first floor hallway. "It… what the hell…?!"  
"You stole the trophies, Wayne. I'm sorry to find that you did. You were making such good progress."  
"Mister Williams…" Principal Ishiyama spoke up. "We can't ignore this, even if you DID help save the world two years ago."  
"I'm sorry Wayne… but we have no choice but to expel you from Casper High School. Naturally, you're kicked off the football team as well." Lancer sighed sadly.  
"But I didn't DO IT!" Wayne protested loudly. "That wasn't me in that video!"  
"Unless you have some CONCRETE proof that you didn't do it… you're out of this school and off this football team, Mister Williams." Principal Ishiyama brought her hands together just under her nose. Wayne looked nervous, knowing he couldn't offer any concrete proof that he was innocent. "As I thought. I'm sorry Mister Williams, but you're expelled."  
Wayne couldn't believe what had just transpired as he stepped out the front door. Seconds later, he was joined by Danny.  
"Hey man, what's up?" Danny greeted, then noticing the destroyed look on Wayne's face, he spoke up again, this time sounding worried. "What's wrong, Wayne?"  
"Fenton… they expelled me." Wayne trailed off, looking ahead. "They said I stole some trophies from the first-floor football trophy case."  
"Oh geez man." Danny looked stunned. "If this had been a year and a half ago, I'd think you WOULD have done something like this. Anything I can do to help?"  
"Find who cost me my new favorite pastime… and get the hell out of my way." Wayne scowled.

* * *

"Wait, how do you know about all of this?" Dr. Zalmanov interrupted. "You weren't there with them!"  
"Danny told me later. Those exact things may not have been said, but knowing Wayne like I do, I assume it's pretty accurate." Ash explained, sighing. "He's a gruff son of a bitch."  
"That brings up another question. Why would he say something like that?" Dr. Zalmanov looked confused.  
"BECAUSE… you don't want to be in the way when his laser goes off. DUH." Ash shrugged.  
"His laser… wait a second…" Dr. Zalmanov interrupted once more and went over to her computer. She typed in something and Googled it. "Williams… aha! He was one of the heroes who helped save our world from destruction a year and a half ago! Which means you…"  
"Yeah. I'm the one who killed Shadow Wayne, his demonic doppelganger." Ash admitted. "If I'd been strong enough, he wouldn't have had to sacrifice himself to unlock whatever hidden power I used to kick that demon's ass."  
"Whether or not you had that power from the start is irrelevant. The past can't be changed." Dr. Zalmanov sighed.  
"Guess not." Ash lied, knowing how many questions it would bring up if he mentioned that he actually DID rewrite history. "I should resume my story…"  
"I'm going to patiently assume that the ending of this story DOES have something to do with you and not ALL about him." Dr. Zalmanov sighed for what must have been the hundredth time so far in their session.  
"Of course."  
"Proceed."

* * *

Later that day, Aimee had made it back to Condo Williams/Kurosawa/Gray after her job interview, collapsing onto the sofa, and then jumping back up with a start as she realized she was sitting on her husband.  
"Oh god! Wayne, what are you doing home?!" Aimee's eyes were wide.  
"I got expelled." Was Wayne's simple response.  
"Oh god… what happened, baby?" she asked, helping him to sit up before plopping down next to him and placing her arm around him.  
"They said I stole some trophies."  
"That's bullshit! I know you couldn't have done anything like that!" Aimee protested. "I can tell them you were with me all night long!"  
"They had video evidence of someone who looked EXACTLY like me stealing the trophies… so your testimony won't even be considered." Wayne looked away. "I don't know WHO did it… but they're DEAD."  
"Don't do that… what if it was a classmate?" Aimee looked concerned.  
"A classmate…" Wayne's eyes lit up. "That's it! Sweetie, you ROCK! Get Fenton on the line and tell him to spy on the football team!"  
"But…"  
"Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill anyone… I'm just gonna expose a rat. A rat named Dash Baxter!" Wayne smirked.  
"How do you know Dash did it?" Aimee asked. "He couldn't pull off disguising himself like you, he's too broad!"  
"I know he has to be involved somehow… but how?" Wayne pondered for a minute before noticing that Aimee was still sitting there. "Aimee, are you going to dial up Fenton? Cause if not, hand me the phone so I can do it!"  
"Yeah, hang on…" she sighed, getting up slowly and giving Wayne a peck on the lips before walking over to the phone and pretending to dial Danny's number. After a few seconds, she hung up. "Huh. It's busy."  
"Weird… Fenton's phone's never busy. He got call waiting just so he could get calls from Sam." Wayne explained.  
"I know. I was there when he told us." Aimee smiled wearily. "I'll go knock on his door and let him know what you said, 'kay? I have to go shopping anyway." She looked away from her husband.  
"Okay babe… I'm gonna lay back down for a bit… my arm's killing me." Wayne groaned, laying back down on his side, keeping his right arm from touching down on the couch by staying on his left side. Aimee glanced pitifully at her husband. Thankfully, he wasn't looking at her, or he would have scolded her for feeling pity for him. She turned and left the apartment wordlessly. As she reached the door leading to the front steps, though, she said something to herself.  
"Don't worry babe, I'll find whoever did this to you. Then they'll face the wrath of MRS. Wayne Williams!" she scowled, thinking of her husband's dejected face as she ran off toward the high school.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the boys' locker room at Casper High, Dash Baxter sat, fidgeting nervously. As he walked toward the shower, a woman in a red miniskirt and a business-looking blouse phased in through the wall, eyeing Dash under her sunglasses.  
"See, Dash? We both get what we want in this case… you're the football star and Mister Williams is out of the picture." The woman grinned evilly.  
"I don't know, Dr. Spectra… I just wanted him kicked off of the football team! I didn't want him EXPELLED!"  
"Such is the way of deception, boy…" she grinned, waving her hand and causing Dash's eyes to glow green. "You got what you wanted… now you do me a favor and find a way to expel his little clique…"  
"O… of course. Those bastards have had it too good for too long!" Dash shouted, his eyes still glowing green.

* * *

Having asked various people around the school where Dash might be, Aimee now stood at the door to the boys' locker room, her ear pressed up against the door, having previously faintly heard him talking to someone before leaning up against the door.  
"Now you do me a favor and find some way to expel the rest of his little clique…" she heard a woman's voice…in the boys' locker room? That couldn't be right. Maybe it was an effeminate sounding man.  
"O…of course! Those bastards have had it too good for too long!" she heard Dash speak up. "What do you want me to do, Spectra?"  
"First and foremost, find a way to get that meddlesome Ash Ketchum expelled." Aimee's eyes widened.  
'Why does this person want Ash expelled?!' she thought. 'Doesn't she know Ash is too drunk to function properly anymore?!'  
"That Kamoa boy can actually KILL ghosts. Not good news for me or my assistant." She heard the now-identified ghost person, Spectra, exposit.  
"Assistant? What assista—" she was cut off by a powerful hand clamping over her mouth.  
"This assistant." The unseen assailant said haughtily, phasing Aimee through the wall of the locker room.  
"There you are, Bertrand." Spectra grinned, as Bertrand let go of Aimee's mouth. Dash's eyes turned back to normal for a second.  
"Hey, that's Williams' girl!"  
"Actually, I'm his wife." Aimee explained, turning to face her attacker, only to gasp in shock as she noticed that he looked EXACTLY like Wayne.  
"Surprised?" Spectra grinned, adjusting her shades. "Bertrand here can take on any form he wants."  
"Spectra knew your husband was upstaging Dash here and decided to help… so I took his form… and the trophies!"  
"So THAT'S what happened!" Aimee pointed accusingly at Bertrand. "But your little game is up! Once Wayne finds out, he'll rip the two of you to shreds!"  
"How's he going to find out? You aren't going anywhere." Spectra smirked. "Bertrand… tie her up. She's going to come in handy when it comes time to permanently take care of her darling husband…"  
"Right-o!" Bertrand grinned evilly, advancing on Aimee…

* * *

Meanwhile, Ash had heard through Danny that Wayne had been expelled, and broke into the principal's office to view the damning piece of evidence. As he sat and watched the footage, however, Lancer walked in, freaking out immediately.  
"RED BADGE OF COURAGE! MISTER KETCHUM, NOT YOU TOO!"  
"Just stop right there, Lancer… I want to prove Wayne didn't do what you think he did." Ash explained. "Even I can tell you that the guy in that video isn't Wayne."  
"Of course it is, Ash! I know you want to believe he's innocent… so did I! But he stole those trophies."  
"The guy in the video's using his right arm." Ash stated bluntly, hiccuping loudly afterward.  
"What does that have to do with anything?"  
"Do you remember seeing Wayne use his right arm at ANY POINT during this semester?!" Ash drove the point home, and Lancer gasped, realizing that Ash was right. "Wayne can't use his right arm. The only reason he got on the team was due to superhuman athletic abilities. You had to keep his arm secret, and that wasn't hard to do, was it? People accepted him immediately cause he was part of the group that saved everybody's asses a year and a half ago."  
"You're right… how could I have missed that?!" Lancer looked mortified. "I was one of the few people in the past who told him he could do good with his life because I believed in him… he must be so…"  
"Don't worry about what he must be right now. He's a tough bastard." Ash said, sighing. "Now if you'll excuse me… it's time for Ash's afternoon nap." He sighed once more, quickly passing out.  
"I'd better call Wayne right now…!" Lancer said, picking up the phone.

* * *

"I'm coming!" Wayne shouted, walking to the door and opening it, looking surprised to see Danny there. "Huh? You're back already?"  
"What are you talking about?" Danny looked confused. "I just came to see how you were doing."  
"Aimee went over to your place to see if you could expose Dash Baxter as the guy who set me up."  
"Uh… no, she didn't, man."  
"But then wh—" Wayne trailed off, realizing what had to have been going on. "SHIT!" he shoved Danny aside and starting descending toward the ground. "Follow me! Aimee might be in trouble!"  
"Right behind ya, dude!" Danny called out, running off just as the phone began to ring.

* * *

As Spectra paced back and forth, plotting on what to do, Aimee struggled in her ropes.  
"Why do you want to get rid of my husband?!" she shouted.  
"I want the youth of EVERYONE in this damn school… your husband and his friends would figure it out and try to stop me… so I figure if they're not around to stop me, then I'm free to steal ALL of this hole's youth!"  
"You won't—"  
"Get away with this? Please, that's SO cliché." Spectra sighed. "We need to call your husband now. Be a dear and tell me the number I can reach him at!"  
"Sure, why not?" Aimee shrugged, then added with a smirk "1-800-KISS-MY-ASS."  
"Cute." Spectra frowned. "Try again." She then pointed a clawed finger at Aimee's throat.  
"1-800-EAT-A-DICK?" Aimee shrugged again. "Ooh! I remember now!""  
"This is getting old." Spectra said, pushing her finger into Aimee's neck and drawing a tiny drop of blood. "Don't think I won't slit your throat." She threatened. "Now give me that phone number!"  
"1800-KISS-MY-ASS!" came Danny's voice as he phased through the door and tackled Spectra away from her hostage.  
"I already did that one, Danny!" Aimee joked, though she was quite relieved to see one of her husband's closest companions.  
"Like I was supposed to know! I wasn't there for that one!" Danny retorted with pseudo anger. "Anyway, how's it hangin'?"  
"Oh, you know… I can't move my arms and legs. I'm gonna have rope burn for a week." Aimee casually kept their conversation flowing as Danny started punching Spectra repeatedly.  
"Dash! A little help here?!" Spectra shouted.  
"Uh… that's Danny Phantom. I ain't gonna fight him, he's a hero!"  
"Do it!" Spectra waved her hand, causing his eyes to glow green.  
"Look at you, Spectra! Waving your hand around like you're some kind of Jedi… you suck!" Danny taunted as he tossed her into a shower.  
"I'm going to make you regret that, ghost boy!" Spectra shouted, charging at him. He simply sidestepped, and Aimee stuck out her bound feet, causing Spectra to trip.  
"Sorry, I can't hear ya over the sound of you SUCKING!" Danny taunted again. Spectra snarled in response, then yelled at the top of her lungs.  
"OH BERRRRRRRRTRAND!" she called out to her shape shifting minion. At that moment, Bertrand phased through the ceiling.  
"Oh, not this weak piece of crap again! I kicked his ass HARD that first time, remember?" Danny threw up his hands in disgust.  
"Refresh my memory…" Bertrand spoke up. "…was that before or AFTER I kicked yours all over various places across Amity Park?"  
"Oh please, your boss/girlfriend/whatever was draining my energy!" Danny shouted.  
"I'm her ASSISTANT. Try not to forget it as I kill you!" Bertrand smirked, shape shifting into Danny himself, causing the half-ghost sixteen year old to gasp in surprise.  
"That's… that's a new one." Danny looked genuinely taken aback.  
"Picked up a few new tricks too! Wanna see?" Bertrand taunted, then took in a deep breath.  
"NO. FREAKING. WAY." Danny looked stunned, as Bertrand let out a Ghostly Wail, destroying a good portion of the locker room and smashing Danny up against the wall with abnormally strong force.  
"Danny!" Aimee Called out in shock.  
"Jesus…" Danny moaned, dropping to the ground. Spectra had been smart enough to phase through the ceiling and avoid the attack, but she dropped back down and kicked Danny with a wicked grin.  
"Ghost boy, you're HISTORY." Spectra laughed. "Bertrand! Finish him off!"  
"Right-o!" Bertrand grinned, but as he inhaled, he gasped as a sword rammed through the back of his head, causing his eyes to roll up. Wayne stood behind Bertrand, smirking devilishly. Bertrand gurgled out something in response.  
"I'm sorry, what was that? You seem to have a sword sticking through what USED to be your forehead."  
"Wayne!" Aimee exclaimed happily. Wayne turned to her.  
"We need to talk after this. So, any of you gonna tell me why you tied up my wife? Or am I gonna have to kill the fuck out of you?" his smirk faded into a frown, which then turned into an open-mouthed expression of surprise as he was sent back against the wall by the force of his own sword being squeezed and launched backward by Bertrand's now-regenerated skull.  
"I'm sorry, what was that?!" Bertrand said mockingly. "I can't hear you over your possibly-broken nose!"  
"What the hell…?" Wayne said out loud. "That should have ENDED you, human or not!"  
"Due to that bracelet?" Spectra grinned. "An old friend of yours told me about it."  
"Kensuke? Or Zenki?" Wayne scowled.  
"The first one. Said your arm is more or less useless, rendering that bracelet the same way!"  
"…!" Wayne's eyes widened, and so did Aimee's.  
'He can't kill them…!' Aimee thought in horror.  
"Much better…" Bertrand turned, grinning. "So you have no chance against me!" As he finished speaking, he shape shifted into Wayne.  
"So… THAT'S how Lancer and Ishiyama were fooled!" Wayne said.  
"Yep. Too bad you won't live long enough to tell them!"  
"Hey… I don't want to KILL anybody!" Dash protested.  
"Do what you want to me." Wayne spoke up suddenly. "But let my wife go."  
"Wayne… don't!" Aimee spoke up.  
"It's okay." Wayne smiled gently, closing his eyes. "I know what it's like to die. You don't… and I don't want you to find out. Not like this."  
"So it's okay for you to die?!" Aimee shouted back at her husband.  
"I HAVE died. You haven't. It's incredibly painful. If one of us HAS to die… I'd rather it be me, because I don't want to live without you."  
"And you think I want to live without you?!" Aimee shouted. "Do you know how much it hurt to watch you kill yourself to stop that THING?! I won't let you do this!"  
"Not really much you can do in your position right now, is there?" Wayne pointed down to the ropes looped around Aimee's arms. "This isn't up for debate, Aimee." He then turned to Spectra. "Go ahead. Kill me if you have to, but as I said, leave my wife out of this!"  
"No dice." Spectra smirked, after a moment of silence between everyone present. "You're powerless to stop my assistant and I without that bracelet, so you have no leeway to call the shots around here!" Her smirk then widened to an evil grin. "Bertrand… KILL him!"  
"Got it!" Bertrand nodded, an evil grin of his own as he vanished, reappearing behind Wayne and punching him in the back with enough force to topple a mountain, the force of which immediately sent the latter to his knees with a yelp of pain. Bertrand wasted no time in continuing his assault, giving Wayne a swift kick to the back of the head, knocking him face first to the floor. "Too easy." The villain scoffed, as he raised his hand to point at Wayne, his hand in the shape of a gun. However, before he could steal Wayne's signature move, a large blast of ectoplasm slammed dead on into Bertrand, knocking him off his feet and allowing Wayne a brief moment to breath.

"You're not going to have it that easily!" Danny was back on his feet, and had assumed a fighting position. "When you mess with one of us, you get us all!" He shouted before he charged, attempting to get the jump on Bertrand before he could rise to his feet. To his surprise however, the motionless villain sat straight up with a smirk on his face, his gun shaped hand now pointed at the charging ghost.

"Wrong ghost boy, it is YOU who will not have it so easily! DEVIL GUN!" A large purple spirit bullet -even bigger than that which was normally fired from Wayne's fingertips- came at Danny with lightning fast speed. The latter didn't even have a chance to phase out, as the shot hit him square in the chest, knocking him into the row of lockers behind him with a loud THUD, which now subsequently had a Danny sized dent in them. "Now, where was I?" Bertrand spoke to himself, turning just in time to see Wayne pull himself all the way up to his feet. "Oh, that's right, I was taking out the TRASH." Bertrand mocked as he charged at Wayne once again, coming at him with a right hook that the latter was much too slow in parrying. A subsequent kick to the gut and elbow to the back of the head once again saw Wayne on the ground, helpless. Bertrand let out an evil laugh, as if to signify that he was having way too much fun with this.

Spectra, however, still wasn't completely satisfied. "Hmmm." She thought aloud, glancing back and forth between the one sided fight, and her captive. "Maybe just to be safe…" With that, Spectra turned around, grabbing Aimee and hoisting her over a shoulder. "Make sure none of them leave here alive, Bertrand!" She spat at her minion before phasing into her ghost form, and flying both her and Aimee through the ceiling.

"You got it boss!" Bertrand had turned his back on Wayne only for a moment, but the latter chose to use this opportunity to the best of his abilities.

"HYPERION CANNON!" He screamed, throwing his left hand out at Bertrand. However, the loss of Wayne's right arm proved this attempt to be almost catastrophic, as the blast shot away from Bertrand, and narrowly avoided taking out Dash in the process. The teenager looked on, frightened, as there was now a gigantic hole in the side of the lockers, a hole that lead all the way out of the school.  
"WATCH WHERE YOURE POINTING THAT THING, DUDE!" Came Dash's shaky, frightened reply.

* * *

Spectra and Aimee flew through the roof of the school, the former phasing back into her human form as she landed. She was immediately caught off guard, however, to find that they were NOT the only two people on the roof of the school this night. Standing there, wobbling in place, a half drunk bottle of whiskey in his hand, stood Ash Ketchum.  
"Hey..." Ash slurred, his speech impended slightly by the influence of alcohol. "….this isn't my house!" The hero looked around for a moment, as if just discovering that he was in a new location. Spectra was taken aback for a moment, but before she could think of what to do, Ash continued on with his drunken rambling."…and wait…YOURE NOT MY MOM!" He threw an accusing finger at Spectra, after a moment, noticing that Aimee was draped over her shoulder. "and…you're in the middle of kidnapping somebody…" Another silent moment. "Wait…that's Aimee…that means…" Ash began to stumble as he trailed off into the last part of the sentence, before out of nowhere, chucking the bottle of liquor in his hand at Spectra as hard as he could. The villain, almost caught off guard by the whole situation, was barely able to move her head to the side to avoid the bottle. As she turned her head back, however, she only felt pain, as Ash's drunken fist slammed into the side of her face, sending her stumbling toward the edge of the building, dropping Aimee in the process.  
"Bastard." She muttered when she came to her senses, to which Ash just shrugged.  
"I've been meaning to quit anyway." With that, he charged Spectra again, but this time she was ready, meeting his drunken, unpredictable blows with quick, sloppy parries.

* * *

"Yes Wayne, watch where you point that thing." Bertrand mocked as he once again connected his foot to Wayne's face, putting him back on the ground once again. The villain then picked Wayne up by the neck. "You might HURT somebody." He then flung Wayne as hard as he could into the wall next to Dash, once again causing the lockers to break and bend as the former slammed hard into the wall. "Nobody can stop me now!"

"I beg to differ!" Came an all too familiar voice as Danny came out of nowhere, tackling Bertrand to the ground from behind, knocking him to the ground. The young ghost boy quickly produced the Fenton Thermos, now attempting to put an end to all the fighting. "Prepare to be this thing's bitch…again!" Danny added.

"Not today, Fenton!" Bertrand replied slyly, producing a quick Devil Gun aimed perfectly at the thermos, which was destroyed on impact. He then tried to turn and get up, but Danny didn't give, doing his best to struggle and keep Bertrand on the ground, looking to bide any amount of time he could.

"Wayne!" Danny yelled as he struggled with Bertrand. "We need help! Go find Ash!"

"N..no!" Came Wayne's weak reply. "Ketchum does NOT NEED to be involved here!"  
"Wayne this isn't the time-"

"NO!" Wayne screamed at the top of his lungs. "I CAN DO THIS!" He then attempted to slowly pick his left arm up, readying another Hyperion Cannon. To his surprise, as he struggled, he felt another arm on his, supporting his left arm like his right arm should have. Surprised, he turned and looked, to see Dash holding his own right arm underneath Wayne's left.

"I get it." Dash said, not allowing any time to be wasted. "You need both arms to take this guy out, but you can only use one." There was a very brief pause. "I'm sorry I got you expelled Wayne. Let's kick this punk's ass, together." After a moment, of silence, Wayne nodded, and Dash reached his left hand down to touch the Rift Bracelet. "Let's do this, Captain."  
About that time, Bertrand knocked Danny away, only to look over to see Wayne grinning almost evilly. Before Bertrand could even question what had happened, it was over.  
"HYPERION CANNON!" The giant blast barreled right into Bertrand, who let out a final scream of death before disintegrating into nothing.  
There was a seemingly infinite moment of silence, as the three heroes laid there, absorbing the damage. After what seemed like forever, Wayne pulled himself to his feet, dusting himself off casually, before looking over at Dash with a look of gratitude.  
"Thanks Dash… but I can't rest quite just yet." With that, he took off out the hole that had been created by his first misfired Hyperion Cannon, having no idea what was going on roof-side…

* * *

As Spectra was sent flying back by another one of Ash's punches, the Kamoa teenager decided to speak up again. "Man, you ghosts are idiots. Let me guess, Kensuke sent you here?"  
"Kinda," The ghost replied. "But I already have some history of my own with this place, so, you know..." She attempted to fight back, but was once again sent flying back by one good hard punch from Ash.

"Man you suck…" Ash yelled, still slurring his words slightly. "I'm drunk off my ASS, and I'm STILL kicking yours!" He once again made his finger into the shape of a gun. "Spirit gun!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

* * *

"Spirit gun!" Wayne heard the words echo from atop the building as he exited through the hole, and had to stop in his tracks.

"Ketchum?" He said to himself, before turning and flying to the top of the roof of Casper High School. He landed on the roof just in time to see our hero launch a Neo Spirit Slash at Spectra, though the drunken Ash had misfired, and the slash was headed straight for Aimee. Having little time to think, Wayne quickly charged his wife, picking her up and continuing stride in one motion, as the Neo Spirit Slash passed harmlessly by. Angrily, he turned to Ash. "What the fuck were you aiming at?"

"Huh….usually the bad guy dies when I do that." Ash slowly spoke, Wayne now realizing how heavily under the influence the former was. As Spectra started to climb back to her feet, Ash went through the motions once again. "NEO SPIRIT SLASH!" Once again, our hero's aim was off, but Wayne had other plans. Placing his wife down safely, he quickly grabbed the weakened Spectra, flinging her directly into the path of Ash's second wayward Spirit Slash. Like her partner before her, with one final scream of agony, she disintegrated into nothing. Another long moment of silence, before Ash drunkenly added. "…that's right… BITCH!"  
After a moment of collecting his own thoughts, Wayne smiled to his wife, sharing a quick kiss with her, before hoisting her over his left shoulder. "Let's go home, Aimee." As Wayne turned to walk to the edge of the building, however, Ash spoke up.  
"Hey! How about some thanks for saving your wife's life!" A few hiccups escaped his lips at the end of the sentence. Wayne stopped in his tracks, though for a moment did not turn to look at Ash. He turned his head slightly to the side, finally, and spoke sternly.  
"Refresh my memory, Ketchum. Was that BEFORE or AFTER you almost cut her in half?!"  
"Does she LOOK bisected to you Wayne? Does she?!"

"That's not the point. You have a problem and like always you are just LUCKY that there's somebody around to clean up your mess and prevent you from making things worse!" The harsh words prompted an even longer silence from Ash, which caused Wayne to speak up again. "Look, I get it. You have a someone who wants you dead, and that fucking sucks, but nearly killing everybody around you and drinking until you forget everything won't solve ANYTHING."  
"And just who the FUCK told you to butt into MY life?" Ash responded, his voice growing angrier with every passing word.

"Uh, YOU kind of did, when YOU asked for my help to stop Kensuke. So you can blame yourself for my 'butting in'." Yet another long silence, before Ash just looked away, speaking softly.  
"Do you have any idea what it's like, Wayne?" Ash stammered, his voice a mixture of sad and drunken. "I've got someone wanting me dead... a member of my family, no less... and stopping at nothing to complete that little mission. So tell me, again, do you have ANY idea what that's like?!"The latter just sighed, turning away from Ash.  
"…Yeah, I do." He muttered under his breath before taking off into the night sky with his wife in arm. As they were flying away, Aimee looked up at her husband and meekly commented.

"So this is all good and fun and all…but how about untying me now?"

* * *

"…The end." Ash finished off his story, to which Dr. Zalmanov sighed again, cupping her chin in her right hand.  
"This really didn't tell me ANYTHING about your problems, Ash. So this big point you alluded to… what exactly was it, again? Or did you just find some comfort in wasting an hour of my time?"  
"…" Ash rose to his feet, then walked over to the window, peering out of it as he finally spoke up again.  
"…I envy him."  
"You envy who… Wayne? The man can't use his right arm!" Dr. Zalmanov argued.  
"He's also got a wife. He can start a family whenever he wants. That's what I want… and that's what I CAN'T have." Ash explained.  
"What makes you think you can't have a family?" Dr. Zalmanov inquired.  
"Because I'm targeted for death. The guy I'm up against… Kensuke… he wants me dead, and he'll stop at nothing to get his way, even killing our people…"  
"'Our' people? So this man… you and he DO share something."  
"I don't share ANYTHING with that piece of shit!" Ash responded angrily.  
"I think you and Kensuke do have a bond. You just don't want to think about it. Does thinking about it hurt you, Ash? Emotionally, I mean?"  
"…Oh look, time's up." Ash said nonchalantly. He walked toward the door.  
"Ash… you need to trust me. You came to me, after all. I'd like to speak with you again next week." Dr. Zalmanov smiled.  
"…You're right. I'll tell you later. I promise." Ash said, and with that, he started toward the door. He turned quickly though, and said "Maybe I'll go see what Jazz is up to tonight."  
"That's the spirit!" Dr. Zalmanov cheered. "She really loves you, Ash. Don't break her heart."  
"…" Ash looked down, then wordlessly left the room, leaving Dr. Zalmanov to stare after him.

* * *

As Wayne entered Condo Williams/Kurosawa/Gray, he turned and saw Ash knocking on the door to FentonWorks. He let out a small chuckle and muttered "Good for you, Ketchum." He climbed the stairs, entering his front door. He looked over at Aimee sitting on the couch and he smiled softly toward her.  
"Hey babe, what's up?" she asked. Right then, seeing what a good thing he had before him, he stared her directly in the eyes. "Wayne?"  
"That thing I gave you on our wedding day… do you still have it?" he asked solemnly.  
"Wayne…!" her eyes widened. "No, don't do this…!"  
"It's okay… I just need to bite it for a second." Wayne said. "I don't want to die before we have the chance to grow old together…"  
"But… if you do that, you won't be able to play football again!" Aimee protested.  
"I don't care. I want you more than anything. Do it." Wayne said, as he took a seat on the couch, drawing his sword. With tears in her eyes, Aimee produced a small, silvery bullet. Wayne set his sword down long enough to put the bullet between his teeth and bite down. As he picked his sword back up, he muttered one last thing.  
"I lohe you." He then raised his sword, closing his eyes as he swung down with all of his might. Aimee turned away, crying. He was prepared to let out a scream of agony, but instead, it turned into a gasp of horror as his sword actually cracked upon impact with his arm. He opened his eyes to take in what had just happened. As Aimee turned back around, all she saw in Wayne's eyes was a look of absolute horror… for his right arm remained completely intact.  
"Wh… what?!" Wayne gasped again. "But… that should have…" he stared back up at his wife, a horrified expression on his face as he realized he may have sealed his own fate the second this whole mess started…


	56. Rocky Mountain Rumble

PokeWing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 56: Rocky Mountain Rumble

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke.

YAR, THAR BE A DISCLAIMER. EPISODES 1, 25, 51, AND THE TWO MOVIES. ARRGH!

* * *

"Have a seat, Ash." Dr. Zalmanov said as Ash Ketchum entered her office, shutting the door behind him, and then walking over to the two chairs adjacent to the Doctors desk, picking the left one to sit in. He began to open his mouth, but was quickly cut off by the doctor. "I'm going to get straight to the point today, Ash." She stated calmly but firmly. "I need to know if your story is going to help me get to the root of YOUR problem." She sat behind her desk, piercing green eyes locked onto Ash as she twirled her pen betwixt her fingers. Ash could tell she was in a no-nonsense mood today despite only knowing her for a week now. She quickly grabbed the pen in her palm, the point now facing Ash to add emphasis to her next statement. "You can tell me all about Wayne's football woes or Riku wanting to hug puppies after we identify what's troubling you about this man Kensuke". Ash was silent for a moment before looking his doctor in the eye and nodding, slowly, as if uneasy about the idea at first.

"You're right." Our hero spoke for the first time since entering the room. "I don't guess there's any point in me making these appointments if we're not going to make any headway." There was a bit of a sigh in his voice, which Dr. Z shrugged off.

"And about that, you are right, Ash." Her response was as firm as the rest of her words. "Now, please, start from the beginning." With that, Ash sighed one last time, before beginning into his story.

* * *

(Title) Rocky Mountain Rumble

(Subtitle) Let's get ready to rumble!

(Image) A shadowy image of Vlad holds a restrained Jazz as a wickedly-grinning Vikki steps on Ash's hand as he holds onto the edge of a cliff for dear life.

(Jingle) Synthesizer

Guest Voices:

Steve Blum - Kensuke

Wendee Lee – Kitrala/Dr. Zalmanov

Michelle Ruff - Vikki

* * *

"Honestly, is this the only place to get a burger in town?" Ash was halfway complaining, halfway blowing off steam, as the members of Team Ketchum entered the doors to the Nasty Burger, as they often did.

"Trust me dude, it's the only one worth giving your money to." Came Danny's response.

"He's right, the Lean Burger on the other side of town SUCKS." Aimee threw in, prompting nods from Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Valerie.

"And the closest chain restaurant of any kind is a few counties over." Jazz added in, to which Ash just let out a long discontent sigh.

"If you say so." Came the simple response from the hero. It wasn't like Ash to lay down and take an insult like that, and his friends knew that as they each exchanged hopeless looks at one another, save for Wayne.

"I do say so, Ash. What do you think of that?" To no one's surprise as of recent, Ash simply shrugged without an emotional response, or for that matter, any response.

"He's not acting himself." Danny leaned to his right, whispering in the ear of his sister.

"Well, Ketchum, by my assumption, you're the only one of us that ever complains. Maybe you shouldn't be so damn picky." Wayne spoke with a little more aggression in his voice, trying to get anything out of Ash, who just shrugged it off once again.

"Hey, I'm paying for it. I should be able to decide if I want to eat it or not." Ash rebuked, this time a small hint of aggression in his own voice was evident.

"Oh for Christ sake…" Wayne trailed off, obviously looking to start something at this point. "Would you show ONE god damn emotion aside from minor aggression already?!" he looked almost ready to get into a fist fight. Ash just shrugged and stood up, silently looking at Jazz to get her to scoot aside so he could leave. As she did, he started to walk away, only to be grabbed by Wayne, who spun him around. "SERIOUSLY. You're leaving. What a shock. Why didn't you just stay with your dead-ass cousin if you were gonna be all mopey like this?!" Had Wayne not been trying to start something, he would have immediately regretted his choice of words, for they rewarded him with a one way trip to the Nasty Burger floor, courtesy of Ash's right fist.

"Say another thing about Nalia and I'll kick a hole in YOUR stomach like I did your worthless-ass shadow's!" Ash finally spoke up after a minute of trying to collect his thoughts to form a halfway coherent sentence. Wayne then used his left arm to pick himself up off the ground awkwardly, grimacing under his breath as he did so.

Jazz and Riku were immediately in the middle of this tango, tending to Ash and Wayne respectively.  
"Can we not go into public just ONE TIME without you two getting into it?" The two said in almost comical sync.  
"He started it." Ash said flatly.  
"And I'm going to finish it here in a second," Wayne started, but as he got up, a sighing Riku gave him a nice hard 'poke' on the bicep of his right arm, an action which caused Wayne to gasp louder than he planned, and fall back to his ass.  
"Sit down and leave the poor kid alone, Wayne." The latter responded to this with a glare, but just looked the other way, as if to say 'Fine, whatever.'.  
"Now is that arm okay?" Riku inquired.  
"Was until you decided to poke and prod at it, asshole." Wayne responded dryly, although such banter was normal between the former partners in crime. Meanwhile, across the room, Jazz was doing her best to calm Ash down.  
"I'll hit him again if he gets back up." Our hero spoke, angrily muttering under his breath so only Jazz could hear him.

"You've GOT to stop letting what Wayne says get under your skin…" Jazz shook her head. "Otherwise, you're just going to get h—" she stopped, a bewildering look on her face as she breathed softly. "Motive… YOU had motive when you hit Wayne."

"Yeah. I think EVERYONE IN THE NASTY BURGER is aware of that." Ash smarted off. "What's your point?"

"My POINT is that this… Zenki guy had no reason to come after you. Hell, he HELPED you kill Shadow Wayne!"

"…What are you getting at?" Ash tried to sound dry about it, but there was a hint of curiosity in his voice.

"I mean… I think there's more to Zenki wanting to fight to the death than 'Kensuke told him to'. I think… he's being paid off." This comment caused Ash to turn his head.

"…You mean…?"

"Vlad Masters. He's the only rich guy any of us know who would want you dead." Jazz smirked satisfactorily. "I'm sure he blames you for wrecking all of his plans a year and a half ago!"

"So you're saying Vlad found out about Zenki and contacted him… how?"

"My guess? He's standing right over there." Jazz pointed at Wayne. "Of course, this had to have been back when Shadow Wayne was possessing him, but still…" she trailed off, noticing Ash was paying attention to who had just walked into the Nasty Burger. "Kensuke…" However, Kensuke seemed to ignore everyone there in favor of walking up to the counter. It was then that Ash spoke up.

"Doesn't matter. The fact that Zenki wants me dead at all is important… but not WHY he wants me dead." He sighed. "Don't think about this. Just… go about your life. Stop worrying about my encounter with Zenki. When the time comes, I'll fight him. I'll either win or lose."

"But if you lose, he'll KILL you!"

"And?" That word seemed to be a bullet through Jazz's heart. Why would Ash WANT to die?!

"Don't do this, Ash… please! I know you're hiding something else from me! Don't shut me out!" Jazz pleaded with her boyfriend, who simply sighed.

"Jazz… stop it. I didn't tell you this stuff for a reason." He glared at Kensuke, whose head had slightly turned to acknowledge their presence.

"I KNOW this is about Kensuke. What is he to you?"

"…" Ash remained silent for a moment before getting extremely rude. "Just fucking DROP IT already."

* * *

"Ah, see? It's like I said, he IS the root of the problem." Dr. Zalmanov smirked in mock-triumph. "So who is he, Ash? You dodged this question last time, but…" she trailed off, sliding her desk in front of the door. "I'm not letting you leave this time until you admit his connection to you." Ash stared at her incredulously for a minute before speaking up again.

"…SERIOUSLY. You DO realize that I can blast that thing into splinters by POINTING at it, don't you?"

"Ah, but then I'd have to call the police… or the men in white coats. A hostile act like that would be a sure sign of a psychopath."

"So would holding me here against my will, Doc." Ash smirked in triumph, as Dr. Zalmanov realized that Ash was right.

"I'm doing this because I want to help you, Ash!"

"…I know." Ash admitted, after a minute of silence. "And I promise I'll tell you when I'm ready. However… I'm not ready to yet. Can I finish my story please?"

"Let me fill you in on an extra detail, then… Jazz spoke to me about what you just told me after class the other day. She seemed quite a bit distraught." Dr. Zalmanov sighed.

* * *

"Dr. Zalmanov, can I talk to you for a second?" Jazz had walked up to her teacher's desk immediately as the other students in Psychology 101 had gotten up to leave for the day.

"What is it, Jazz?" the older woman asked, motioning for her to sit down at her desk as she herself stood up.

"It's Ash… I'm worried about him now more than ever." Jazz admitted. "You know all about the fight he had a year and a half ago with the demon in that giant floating dimension… ever since then, he'd been acting differently. He went to find out exactly who he was, and, well… he's been completely detached from everything and everyone since then." Dr. Zalmanov held up a hand so she could process everything Jazz had just said. After a minute, she waved it again, as if saying "Proceed." "Well… he had a run-in with Kensuke yesterday. He's… almost frightening when Kensuke is around. There's something between them. I know there is! He doesn't want to say what's there… as if he's afraid to lose me by admitting whatever connection there is! Has he said anything to you?"

"Jazz… I can't tell you. That's strictly confidential information and you know that."

"…I know. I just want him to be happy. I want to see him smile again." Jazz finished by turning around and walking toward the door.

"Jazz." Dr. Zalmanov called out.

"Yes?"

"…Don't give up on him. The fact that he even came to me is a sign that he earnestly wants to confide his problems in someone." Dr. Zalmanov said, smiling at her student. Jazz nodded, returning the smile before leaving.

* * *

"She never said anything about that." Ash gasped.

"Of course she didn't! She doesn't want you to realize just how worried she is!"

"…" Ash remained silent for a few seconds, before he began to recount more of his story to Dr. Zalmanov. "I didn't tell her anything in the hopes that she wouldn't use that information and put her own life on the line for my ass. I already had a feeling Vlad was the one who asked Zenki to murder me. I knew it didn't matter, because Kensuke wanted me dead anyway, and since he and Zenki are buds, I figured he'd have eventually asked Zenki to off me. Of course, since I gave her far too little credit…"

* * *

As she got home, Jazz waved hello to Jack and Maddie before running upstairs. Entering Danny's room, she closed the door and searched around his bed.

"Where IS that thing… and why the HELL doesn't he ever clean this room?!" She complained, sorting through dirty clothes and old pizza boxes. She could swear she felt something move right before tossing one of them, but she simply shrugged it off and continued to search, before holding up Danny's communicator watch in triumph. "A-ha!"

Quickly, she hit the round button located underneath the screen. Seconds later, Enma popped up on screen, snacking on a parfait.

"Danny, how many times have I told you I don't control the influx of ghosts?!" Enma shouted, before realizing it was not Danny on the other side of the communicator, but Jazz.

"Oh! Jasmine! Sorry, I thought your brother was calling me to complain again."

"He's hanging out with Sam and Tucker today." Jazz pointed out. "But enough about that…I have to ask you about something. I need to know…"

"What happened in the Kamoa Paradise, right?" Enma finished her thought. "…Ash had lost his memory completely. The only thing he remembered, based on what I've been told by Wayne and Riku, was his own name… and a promise he made to you. Interestingly, hearing your name caused him to remember who he was. In a way, you got his memory back."

"Wow… so what happened after that?"

"Ash met Kensuke, and they fought. Kensuke killed Ash's cousin Nalia, and Ash nearly died defeating Kensuke… that pendant he's wearing now is the only reason he's still alive right now. His full power is sealed in it." Jazz's eyes widened considerably.

'Is THAT why he's afraid of letting me know too much?!'

"Probably." Enma spoke, causing her to gasp. "I saw the look on your face. I haven't spoken with Ash in over a year. He refuses to answer my calls or even see me face-to-face. I can't make him do so anymore since he's doing this mission of his own free will. I'm assuming he's shut you and everyone else out."

"…Enma. Who is Kensuke, really?" Jazz suddenly asked. Enma's eyes narrowed.

"That, I'm afraid, is confidential. You need to trust your boyfriend to tell you that… or figure it out on your own. It's not TOO cryptic." Enma said somberly. "Let me just say that everything going on there is my fault. I told this much to Ash in the Kamoa Paradise. Here's something I didn't tell him. Kensuke's original goal, based on my knowledge from Zenki and Kitrala, was to reunite with Ash and Delia when all was said and done."

"Why would Kensuke want to reunite with someone he wants to kill?"

"He didn't originally want Ash dead. I assume he's gone mad from the half-century since the Unmaker's re-sealing."

"Re-sealing? He was sealed before?"

"Yes. Sardius perfected the seal, or so we thought. My friend gave his life that day that the Unmaker was sealed originally. Despite that, Kensuke pressed on. I thought he was consumed by a desire for revenge, but as I said, Zenki and Kitrala recently paid me a visit to inform me otherwise."

"So the Unmaker's a far more dangerous opponent than you've let on." Jazz said, in a dull voice, as if she were still trying to comprehend a demon of such might. After a few seconds, she changed the subject back to who she'd wanted to know more about. "…What was he like? Kensuke, I mean."

"He was one of the finest young men I ever met, even if I did feel like his heart was full of too much malice. When he said he and his friends were going to stand against the Unmaker, I hadn't seen such courage ever before… even from his father. Kensuke knew he was fighting a god, and yet he didn't back down. I was truly moved by his bravery. I… I thought of him like he was my own son."

"And then what happened?"

"... He went off to fight the Unmaker ten years after I met him. After the battle, one of his comrades told me he'd, well…" Enma trailed off, his voice cracking. "I failed him, Jasmine. I should have seen this coming."

"You can make up for lost time. Just get him to realize how much he meant to you. Or make Ash realize how much HE means to you. Aside from the lies, you treat him the same way, don't you?"

"Yes. I think of Ash like my own son as well."

"Have you TOLD this to Ash?" Jazz clutched her forehead with her left hand.

"No… he despises me for not telling him about his past. He shares the same feeling toward his own mother, but he won't voice it nearly as much."

"Maybe try telling him what he means to you?" Jazz suggested, irritation present in her voice. "He needs that now. He spent most of this year drunk off of his ass because he doesn't know where he belongs!"

"What good would that do? It doesn't take away what happened…"

"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Jazz shouted.

"…I let his father die when his race was all but wiped out."

"…Oh my…"

"Yeah… you see why I can't tell him anything?" Enma sighed.

"But… you didn't kill him. It wasn't your fault, right?"

"That's debatable." Enma turned his head.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want to discuss it any further. All I can tell you is that Ash is having problems because of what happened there at the Kamoa Paradise AND what happened long ago." Enma said suddenly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to return to matters at hand."

"What matters at hand? You were eating."

"…And planning a strategy for Ash to use against Kensuke." Enma said, his eyes narrowing. "He's going to need all the help he can get against that man…" With that, he ended the transmission, leaving Jazz to sit there and ponder about this mysterious older Kamoa. Ash had fought an extremely deadly opponent before in Shadow Wayne, and even before that, Wayne and Riku when they had sided together to cause destruction against the Dimensional Universe. However, none of these three opponents could compare to the might of the Kamoa… and now Ash faced an opponent who was another member of his race. None of this made any sense to the eighteen-year old girl, as she cupped her chin with her right hand and stared forward, continuing to ponder. "Vlad had to have hired Zenki. I'm sure of it. Even if Kensuke asked Zenki to kill Ash… would he? I think it's time to get to the bottom of this mystery." She surmised, getting to her feet and heading downstairs, leaving FentonWorks as she drove off toward the high-end apartments in town. As she got close to one, she smirked, recognizing it as Vlad's Mercedes. It seemed he had fixed most of the damage done to it after his escape a year and a half ago, save for the very clear fist-shaped indentation on the side –Ash's way of dealing with his pent-up aggression over not being able to stop Vlad when he escaped—.

"A-ha…" she eased gently in behind the Mercedes, trying to be as quiet as she could. She had no idea which of these apartments belonged to Vlad, or if ALL of them belonged to him, though she suspected the former due to all the attention owning EVERY apartment in this ritzy complex would bring his way. She had to admit it to herself begrudgingly: Vlad had actually done a VERY good job of hiding in plain sight. Not only was this apartment complex close to Ash's new house –within a mile-, but he'd managed to keep VERY quiet while still living in the lap of luxury. Even the alleys of this complex looked immaculate. She was interrupted from her thoughts by the sound of a door opening on the second floor. Without thinking, she hid just barely out of sight, and it turned out to be a wise choice, for the person who stepped out was Vikki, holding a… cat? The cat meowed softly as Vikki set it down.

"Here ya go, Maddie. Go have some fun with your friends." Vikki said, waving to the cat as it meowed, louder this time as it trotted happily down the stairs. Vikki went back inside, and Jazz stepped back into the open. Taking extreme care not to be seen by anyone –after all, Vlad could have actually made some friends… or at least paid them to PRETEND to be his friends—and she didn't want to be caught while trying to find out more about the potential situation her boyfriend was in. She stopped at the door, not leaning up against it for fear of making a noise. Perhaps she was being paranoid –as the apartments were the cleanest she'd ever seen on the outside, she imagined they were perfectly maintained-, but she wasn't about to take any chances. She was doing this for Ash…

"That damned Zenki…" she heard Vlad speak up from inside. "Why does he want to wait for that blasted Kamoa boy's power to come BACK before he kills him?!"

"Maybe he likes a challenge?" Vikki suggested. "That's the way he comes off to me, anyway."

"Perhaps… but why don't he and that goon Kensuke fight instead?"

"I don't know… wait, goon?"

"Yes! They're all ruffians! Plus, that Kensuke gives me the creeps, dear sister…"

"I thought he was kind of nice…" she trailed off, then quickly interjected her own thoughts with "R-relatively speaking, of course."

"Oh my… don't tell me you have a crush on the man." Vlad chuckled.

"N…No!" Vikki blurted out. "He's just… kinda handsome, is all… OH GOD! I JUST SAID THAT!" she seemed to be freaking out to Jazz, from what she could hear. She then heard Vlad chuckling. "SHUT UP, VLAD!"

"I suppose you COULD do worse… you could be dating Ash Ketchum."

"Please. That punk? Not a chance in hell! I'd have to be a complete loser to date a nobody like him!" Her last comment caused Jazz to squint angrily.

'And what's wrong with him?! Sure, he drinks… sure, he smokes… sure, he's keeping the information he learned about his past largely a secret from me… but he's a great guy with a heart of gold!' she thought. 'You're the loser, Vikki. At least MY guy is getting help for his problems. Your fantasy "hunk" wants to commit countless murders to get revenge on a god! Mine saved the whole universe!'

"Oh, if only we had some sort of way to ensure Ash won't fight back… you and I could kill him and be on our way to true happiness! You go after Kensuke, and I steal Maddie away from that BUMBLING IDIOT JACK!"

'Daddy's a better man than you'll ever be.' Jazz thought sternly, lovingly thinking of her father and how good a person he was. 'Mom will never pick you over him.'

"We'll get our day in the sun, big bro." Vikki sounded reassuring.

"Of course we will. I just wish I didn't have to hire complete thugs to do it!" There was a pause.

"Maybe you don't have to rely on them… I just thought of something." There was something suspicious in Vikki's voice then…

* * *

"Do you see why you need to come clean to Jazz, Ash? You said it yourself! She's putting her neck on the line! She could've gotten in SERIOUS danger there!" Dr. Zalmanov interjected.

"…" Ash paused, lowering his head.

* * *

Before Jazz could react, a ghostly hand shot out and clamped over her mouth, silencing her surprised cry and subsequent screams for help.

"She did." Ash's voice narrated, as Jazz was phased through the door.

"Jasmine?!" Vlad looked stunned.

"I told you that Ghost Sense of mine would come in handy!" Vikki said, as Jazz tried to talk through Vikki's hand. "Well hello, old pal!" she smirked, turning Jazz's face toward her and grinning wickedly.

"And I suppose this is your plan?" Vlad asked, a grin of his own forming.

"Ketchum isn't going to risk her ass. If we let her go in exchange for killing him…"

"I like it!" Vlad smirked. At that moment, Vikki let go of Jazz's mouth, allowing her to speak.

"I KNEW you were behind this whole thing!" Jazz pointed accusingly at Vlad. "You really think killing Ash and my dad is going to make Mom fall in love with you?!"

"At this point? I really don't care, girl. Vikki, show Miss Fenton a seat… we're going to take a little trip here shortly…" Vlad laughed, as Vikki shoved Jazz down into gaudy wooden chair and produced some rope, quickly using it to secure the eighteen-year old girl to the chair.

"Why are you doing this?! He's using you! Just like Shadow Wayne used you both to get his hands on the Spirit Stone!" Jazz pleaded, struggling against her ropes even before Vikki had finished knotting them into place.

"I'm well aware of what Vlad was doing, Jazz. I TOLD him to use me!" Vikki said. "He's my only family in the entire world. You should be happy that you brought us together!"

"…" Jazz looked down. "Not like this. This isn't a family."

"On the contrary…" Vlad said, having walked back into the room and now adorned with a blue wool scarf and a golfer's hat, as Vikki walked off to get dressed more appropriately herself, "That's EXACTLY what we are. I've grown very close to my kid sister over the year and a half we've been in hiding! As a budding psychologist, you'd be proud of the progress we've made."

"Speaking of psychological matters…" Jazz spoke up, a sly smirk crossing her face. "Was that your cat that Vikki put outside a few minutes ago?"

"N…no!" Vlad protested.

"That's funny, cause I heard her name was Maddie. Trying to compensate for something, Vladdie? Is that it, V-man?" her smirk widened into a sly grin.

"I. DO. NOT. OWN. A. CAT!" Vlad shouted in retaliation. At that moment, they heard Maddie meowing, clawing at the front door. He grumbled, sighing in defeat. "Vikki… that cat I'm holding onto for my neighbor is clawing at the door again."

"You mean Maddie? The cat you bought a year ago?" Vikki called back.

"NOT! HELPING!" Vlad shouted again as he grimaced at Jazz, who just smirked in triumph, her left eyebrow raising slightly.

"DO. NOT. OWN. A. CAT, huh?" Jazz said, mocking him by imitating his voice. "Wait until I tell Danny. You do realize Ash is going to beat eight tons of crap out of you, right?"

"Disgusting, and slightly too impossible." Vlad countered. "Exactly HOW is he going to lay a finger on me when I have you as a hostage?"

"You don't know him very well… do you? Ash is a HORRIBLE negotiator. You'll be lucky to get away from this encounter alive. Mark my words." Jazz finished in a singsong voice.

"So will YOU." Vlad said sinisterly. "If Ash fails to cooperate, Vikki will light you up like a Christmas tree, my dear."

"You think I'm afraid?" Jazz countered. Before she could say anything else, though, Vikki gagged her with a white cloth, covering her mouth and nose.

"No. **I** think you you're annoying." She smirked as she knotted the gag. "You talk WAY too much, brainiac! So… where are we going, Vlad?"

"I have a place in the Rocky Mountains. We'll take Miss Fenton to it and lay a trap for Ash Ketchum…" he trailed off, chuckling sinisterly.

* * *

It was the day after at House Ketchum, and Brock heard the front doorbell ring.

"I've got it!" he shouted, running over to the door and opening it, revealing Jack and Maddie Fenton standing there. "Hey Mr. and Mrs. F! What's up?"

"Heyyyyyy Brock-o! How's it hangin', m'man?" Jack greeted enthusiastically.

"Is Ash home?" Maddie asked, looking a little more concerned than Jack.

"Yeah, hang on. Ash!" Brock shouted, running over to the stairway. A couple of minutes later, Ash lazily descended to ground level. Looking over at Jack and Maddie, he yawned loudly before greeting them.

"Oh, hey. What're you two doing here? Did Danny bite off more than he could chew with the Box Ghost?"

"Actually…" Maddie said, "We're looking for Jazz. She never came home last night. We thought she was staying the night here."

"Haven't seen her since she went with all of us to the Nasty Burger…" At that second, he could hear the phone ringing, and his mother answering.

"Ash! Do you know a Vlad Masters?"

"VLAD?!" Jack and Maddie exclaimed at the same time.

"…Bring me the phone." Ash's voice came out stern, his eyes narrowing as he quickly pieced together what must have happened. As Delia did so, Ash grabbed it. "What the hell do YOU want?"

"Is that any way to greet an old friend?" Vlad's voice spoke up on the other end of the phone. "Especially one that has something you want?" Afterward, Ash could hear Jazz's muffled cries over the receiver. His eyes widened for a second, before narrowing dangerously as he squeezed the phone in absolute rage. "I believe she belongs to you, right? Last I checked, you had a thing for Miss Fenton here."

"Where are you?" Ash asked, trying to contain the fury in his voice.

"You can find me in my chateau in the Rocky Mountains. Ask Daniel for directions."

"Good. You're dead." Ash answered, before actually crushing the phone by exerting way too much pressure. He immediately turned toward the door and stomped over. "Excuse me. I need to borrow your Specter Speeder." He said to Jack and Maddie.

"What for?" Jack asked, his eyebrows raising. "And what did Masters want with you?!"

"In opposite order… he's got Jazz. And I need the Speeder to RAM IT UP HIS ASS."

"He's got Jazz?!" Jack repeated , scowling. "Maddie… get the Fenton BOO-Zooka. I'm gonna blow that Judas's damn head off!"

"Mr. Fenton… you and Mrs. Fenton stay here." Ash said as calmly as he could.

"Now wait just a minute!" Maddie spoke up. "She's our daughter! Are we just supposed to sit back and…and…"

"…Have milk and cookies?" Delia suggested.

"Yes! That!" Maddie raised her arms, pointing them in Delia's general direction. "…While our daughter's being held hostage by this…this…"

"Fucking nut job who wants to marry/screw you?" Ash interjected. "In a word? Yes. I don't need liabilities going to the Rockies with me. Vlad's NOTHING. Even if he's spent the entire year and a half since he ran off into the Ghost Zone with his tail covering his genitals, he's no match for me."

"And what if he tries to bargain with you?!" Jack suddenly spoke up.

"What do you mean?" Ash asked.

"I mean your life for hers. You DESTROYED his plans… plans he'd been making for twenty years! I imagine he wants you dead! What then?"

"…I'll trade mine for hers." Ash said, after a moment of silence.

"Why?!" Delia shouted. "That's not what your father sent us ahead in time for!"

"He's dead." Ash said solemnly. "I don't think he's gonna care as long as I do the right thing."

"The right thing… by whose standards, Ash? Kensuke's?!" At that moment, Ash snapped and turned around, frightening everyone with how loud his next words were.

"_**THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT!**_" he roared louder than he ever had before. After a few moments of silence, he spoke up again. "Did you have any clue whatsoever when she left that Misty was pregnant? You were going to be a grandmother."

"I…was?!" Delia paused, emphasizing the latter of the two words she said, as if the gravity of what Ash had been feeling for the past year was **finally** sinking in. He was right… this had nothing to do with Kensuke. Or at least, his feelings right now had nothing to do with Kensuke… he was genuinely depressed. Perhaps he was even devastated, and attempting to drink himself to death.

"Ash…" Maddie started to say, but Ash finally spoke up again.

"She died giving birth… but the baby was born too early, so it died too. At least, that's what I've heard from the investigation I hired Enma's ogre team to conduct." The news about Misty's death hit Brock so hard immediately that his eyes were fully open for once, as he walked shakily over to Ash. Ash glanced up at him before receiving a black eye due to Brock hitting him with a full-force right hook. He went to the ground without a gasp of surprise. There was no way Ash could not have seen that sneak punch coming, or that's what Delia was telling herself as she looked at her son, unsure to help him or let Brock have another go at him for lying to her… but then again…

'I would be a hypocrite if I let Brock hit Ash again… I wonder why Ash didn't hit ME when the truth about Kensuke came out.' She thought, before helping Maddie and Jack separate the two boys.

"Why…?" Brock trailed off, looking over at Ash as Delia helped him back to his feet. "WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING TO US?! DID YOU THINK YOU WERE THE ONLY ONE WHO CARED ABOUT HER?! SHE WAS LIKE A **SISTER** TO ME, YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

"…" Ash remained silent.

"YOU WERE BOTH LIKE SIBLINGS TO ME! YOU COULDN'T HAVE JUST BRIEFLY MENTIONED THAT SHE **DIED**?!" Brock shouted, before sitting down in a nearby chair and putting his face in his hands, staring intently at the floor.

"...I didn't want to believe it myself, Brock. I should have said something." Ash sighed, looking at the floor himself. "I kept telling myself it was a nightmare I was trapped in… that maybe I'll wake back up in the Kamoa Paradise and she'll be alive… they'll all be alive, and my b- Kensuke… won't have killed all those people." Ash said, clutching his fists as if trying to keep everything from spilling out at once. "But then I've had to realize recently that it's NOT a dream… and I don't want the same thing to end up happening to Jazz…and she wouldn't be in Vlad's dirty clutches right now if I hadn't given her a reason to worry about me…"

"…" Everyone was silent, until a voice spoke up from just outside the door.

"Great! Let's go, then!" The voice belonged to Wayne, as he and Riku opened the door, with Danny and Jenny right behind them.

"Come on, Ash!" Riku beckoned. "You sitting there is one more second between kicking Masters' worthless ass and saving your girlfriend!"

"We're all in this together, remember?" Jenny smiled.

"Yeah! Wherever Vlad is, we'll find him!" Danny reassured his friend.

"He's at his chateau." Ash said in response. "He said you'd know where it is."

"Sure do! Let's get going!" Danny waved, and it didn't take Ash even a second to follow the four friends outside. As he left, Jack tossed the keys to the Specter Speeder, Ash reaching up and catching them without looking back.

"Ram it good, Ash." Jack said, giving him a thumbs up.

"Will do, sir." Was Ash's near-monotone reply as he headed out the front door.

"…Why…?" Brock asked after Ash had left, as if he were JUST NOW coming to grips with what Ash had just said. "Why didn't you just say something? All three of us could have gotten through this together…!" he started to weep for the loss of the person he had admitted to having a sibling-like bond with.

* * *

Half the day later, Ash and friends had entered the Colorado border, nearing ever closer to the Rockies.

"Good thing Dad installed what he called a metric buttload of seatbelts on this thing recently!" Danny shouted, for it was hard to hear anyone in the speeder who was talking in a normal tone of voice.

"Well, Ash IS going 150 miles per hour!" Jenny said. "It'd probably be better NOT to wear them; impacting at this speed would crush us all into a cube!"

"Then I won't crash! HANG ON JAZZ, I'M COMING!" Ash shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Seems like things are back to normal." Wayne commented.

"Were they EVER normal?" Riku countered his best friend.

"Point taken."

Night had fallen as they rapidly approached the area Danny had previously unwillingly visited along with Maddie as part of another of Vlad's evil plots. As they did, many ghostly animals came into view.

"Looks like Masters brought out the welcome wagon! Ready to rumble, buddy?!" Riku shouted over at Wayne, who returned his question with a devilish grin as he ripped off his seat belts, prompting Riku to do the same. They leapt from the speeder, both whooping for joy as they fell.

"Those two nutjobs…!" Jenny commented, laughing as she looked back, seeing that they were already disabling quite a few of the ghosts.

"And then there were three!" Danny commented. "The only thing between us and Vlad now is…"

"Vikki…" Ash said, seeing the sixteen-year old sister of Vlad Masters stand out in the middle of a clearing, grinning up at him. To Danny and Jenny's surprise, he returned the grin. Suddenly, he swerved out of the way of a mighty bolt of lightning shot by the half-ghost below them.

"This is where you guys jump out! Take cover behind some trees!" Ash shouted.

"What about you, Ash?!" Jenny asked.

"Vikki's ass is as good as her brother's! This thing's about to get INTIMATELY acquainted with it!" Ash's grin widened into one of psychotic proportions. Danny and Jenny just shrugged, undoing their seat belts and jumping out of the speeder as Ash swerved and made a 180, pointing the tip of the vehicle toward Vikki as he slammed on the gas pedal harder than ever before. Vikki took notice and phased into the ground. Ash, forgetting that she could do so, widened his eyes and yanked back on the steering as best as he could. Knowing he was going to crash anyway, he chuckled and jumped out of the vehicle before it crashed into a tree and, as Jenny put it earlier, compacted instantly. As he landed, he barely dodged another bolt of lightning from the ghost-powered teen. Taking cover behind a nearby tree, he glanced over, relieved to see that Jenny and Danny had made it as well.

"Shit! What do we do?! She's definitely gotten better at this whole 'ghost powers' thing!" Jenny commented.

"We kick her ass! That simple enough for you guys to follow my lead on?!" Ash remarked sarcastically.

"Good luck getting near me!" Vikki called out, having heard the two of them talking.

Ash looked over at Danny, his eyebrows twitching as he motioned toward Vikki. Danny flashed a thumbs up, going invisible and phasing through the tree, then blasting toward Vikki, who was barely able to deflect the ecto-beam.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the chalet, Vlad walked over to Jazz and used his right hand to raise her head up so her eyes could meet his.

"You hear that massive thunderstorm outside? That's my little sister. Ooh!" Vlad's eyes widened in excitement. "Maybe she'll fry Daniel as well!" Jazz glared up defiantly at her captor, as he turned toward a mysterious figure in the shadows. "You know what to do."

"Of course…"

* * *

"You know, you can just save yourself the trouble of getting yourself beaten within an inch of your life! Just get the hell out of my way so I can shove my boot up your brother's ass!" Ash shouted from his position behind the tree.

"I have a better idea! I'll just make you EXPLODE with my lightning!" Vikki cackled, firing another bolt, which barely missed Ash's head as he took cover behind the tree once more. Danny, having been blasted with a quick ecto-beam got to his feet again and took in a deep breath. Vikki, seeing him out of the corner of her left eye, sent a bolt of lightning his way. Ash quickly raced toward his friend to shield him from the blast, but before he himself could get electrocuted, someone else jumped in front of him. He closed his eyes as the person got shocked quite badly, dropping to his knees. Ash opened his eyes, stunned at the revelation of who took the lightning bolt meant for Danny.

"…Kensuke?!" he called out in shock.

"Asheron…" he breathed heavily, climbing to his feet.

"Why the hell did you throw yourself in harm's way?!" Ash was genuinely confused. His brother wanted him dead… didn't he? Ignoring Ash's question, Kensuke spoke up.

"This wasn't supposed to happen… this isn't some test I made up for you. Vlad's gone rogue because he wants you dead before your power comes back."

"Did he hire Zenki to kill me?" Ash asked.

"Yes. Your girlfriend was right." Kensuke grunted, getting back to his feet.

"Oh god! Kensuke! Are you all right?!" Vikki looked horrified that she'd hit the object of her affections.

"You and your brother are pathetic, girl…" Kensuke spoke up. "…and you've crossed the line. Asheron, get going to the chalet up ahead."

"She's been holding us off with lightning the entire time!" Danny argued. "And why the hell are you HELPING us?!"

"Vlad needs to learn his place." Kensuke said, his eyes narrowing at Vikki. "Also…? This." Kensuke said, pulling up a sheath with a much smaller sword than his usual one. In one swift flick of his wrist, the sword launched from its sheath, the hilt smashing into Vikki's stomach with a sickening thud. "Asheron, go."

"…I don't know why you're helping us… but thanks." Ash said reluctantly, running full force toward the chalet. "IT'S JUDGEMENT DAY, MASTERS!" he shouted, as he kicked down the door, only to be blown back by an explosion caused by a missile, fired by the mysterious guest Vlad was talking to earlier. As Ash opened his eyes upon hitting the ground, he raised his head to get a look at this guest. Standing before him, now clad in ebony, sleek, hi-tech armor, was…

"…Skulker!" Ash looked stunned to see the ghost hunter standing before him. His only resemblance to his original body was his face. He still had the glowing green eyes and the flaming Mohawk-like "hairdo".

"Evening, Kamoa child." He greeted with a wicked grin.

"I thought a visit from an old friend might liven things up, Ash." Vlad laughed, guiding Jazz's eyes toward him.

"Jazz…" Ash said.

"Ahs!" she shouted, her voice muffled by the gag. "Geh uhweh!"

"Not a chance in hell of that happening." Ash grumbled, getting to his feet.

"How cute… he's willing to die for you!" Vlad said, his hand still resting beneath Jazz's chin. "Take a good look at your boyfriend, Jazz. This is the last you're EVER going to see of him!"

"Nu! Ahs!" she shouted. Ash, noticing that Vlad's dirty hands were on his girlfriend, narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"Get… your hands… OFF OF HER!" he shouted, shooting a Spirit Gun into Skulker and knocking him aside. "YOU'VE GOT THREE SECONDS TO LIVE, ASSHOLE!"

"Oh please!" Vlad threw up his arms. "You spend half your time being so drunk it's a wonder you can even FUNCTION! Am I supposed to be intimidated by a pathetic sixteen-year old who has NO idea about what's truly important?!"

"…I didn't before. You're right about that. However, before I came here to kick your ass, I had an epiphany. Someone close to me died while I was off finding out about my past…"

'Someone close to him died…? I don't think he's referring to Nalia…Misty?! Misty's DEAD?!' Jazz thought in horror.

"Yeah." Ash said, as if reading what he could see of the expression on Jazz's face. "Misty died while I was away. Just like my older self said."

"Ah yes, your first girlfriend." Vlad commented nonchalantly.

"Man… your research sucks. Misty was my SECOND girlfriend, you dumbass." Ash pointed out. "I dated Janine first."

"It doesn't matter who you dated first! You're going to die here for RUINING my carefully laid plans of TWENTY YEARS!" Vlad shouted.

"Not to be an ass, but TECHNICALLY, it was Danny and Wayne who fucked that all up."

"You're still in charge of the Spirit Detective team though! By default, you're to blame for all of this! Besides which, my sister is busy taking out Danny and Wayne!"

"Your sister's probably puking her guts up from how hard Kensuke hit her with the hilt of his sword." Ash explained. "Face it, you fucked up BIG TIME, Masters… just like a year and a half ago. I felt sorry for you back then…" he trailed off, looking away, before glaring intently at Vlad once more. "…But I DON'T feel sorry for you now."

"Excuse me…" Skulker spoke up, after rising to his feet. As Ash turned, he was caught in a surprise right hook by Skulker, the force of which spun him around, only for him to be blasted in the back by Vlad's pink ecto-beam. "But I'm still here. It's rather rude of you to turn your back on me while we're not even finished!"

"How thoughtless of me…" Ash groaned, starting to pick himself up, only for Vlad to shoot him with what looked like some sort of taser. Though it did nothing in the way of shocking him, Ash knew whatever had just happened couldn't be good at all. "What the hell…?!"

"I've re-tweaked the Plasmius Maximus, boy! It's an invention I used on Daniel when he was here to nullify his ghost powers, but now, thanks to a strand of Kensuke's hair, it affects YOU as well! Your Kamoa powers are now invalid for the next hour! Skulker, have fun with him!"

"But of course…." Skulker trailed off, laughing as he advanced on Ash.

* * *

As Riku finished incapacitating the final ghost animal, he sat on a pile of their unconscious bodies.

"Hey, how long do you think these things'll be out?" he asked Wayne, who was also sitting down on a pile of bodies.

"I dunno. Hopefully Ketchum kills the shit out of Masters before they come to." Wayne shrugged.

"Shouldn't we help him?" Riku asked.

"Meh." Wayne yawned loudly.

"How's the arm?" Riku looked over at Wayne.

"In extreme pain." Wayne sighed. "I was gung-ho about fighting the cannon fodder here cause I knew it'd keep me distracted from the pain."

"And now that they're beaten…"

"I broke my sword, Riku… two weeks ago I tried to cut off my arm. That failed, as you can plainly see…"

"Wait… Gurthang versus your arm… and the SWORD lost?!"

"The Rift Bracelet is truly a deadly item in the hands of a non-Kamoa. It figures that Ketchum's dad made this thing." Wayne complained.

"Hey… that THING, as you put it, is the reason you found Aimee and I found Ayumu." Riku pointed out.

"True… do you think these things happen for a reason?"

"Maybe."

* * *

Meanwhile, Kensuke, Danny, and Jenny had gone back to taking cover behind trees. Vikki had decided to count Kensuke as one of her enemies and began firing upon him as well.

"You're the guy with sixty years of combat experience! What the hell do we do?!" Danny shouted over to Kensuke.

"Easy. I'll distract her. She seems to have a thing for me. You take that time and hit her with your best attack. Jennifer, you do the same."

"Right… I've been running the data in my head. Your plan seems to be the best logical solution." Jenny confirmed. "So let's do this!"

"Here I come!" Kensuke shouted, running out into the clearing. Vikki directed her lightning at him, but at the last second, she veered it away.

'Dammit! Why did I do that?! I know he's a hunk, but he's also fighting against Vlad and me!' Vikki thought. She was too distracted by her thoughts to notice that Kensuke had stopped dead in his tracks, and that Danny was now unleashing a Ghostly Wail in her direction, amplified by Jenny's own sonic-based weaponry. As it hit her, she let out a scream and flew back, landing just short of the steps leading to the chalet. As she lost consciousness, she reverted to her human form.

"Well, that takes care of that… thanks, Kensu…ke?" Danny looked over only to notice that Kensuke had already vanished, his work here seemingly over and done with.

* * *

"AHS!" Jazz shouted, watching Skulker brutalize the sixteen-year old Kamoa, like an animal playing with its food.

"I never did pay you back for insulting my chocolate-covered meatballs…" Skulker grinned wickedly.

"T…They still suck…" Ash spat up some blood. "Even… Mom couldn't make 'em taste… good…" he gasped.

"You little ingrate!" Skulker growled, kicking Ash again for good measure. Jazz turned her head, starting to cry. Vlad, however, wanting her to see Ash getting brutally slain, grabbed her by the front of her face and turned her head to witness Ash's beating.

"This is what your boyfriend gets for ruining everything! Enjoy watching him get beaten to death! Skulker! Finish the boy off! It's nearly midnight now!"

"NU!" Jazz screamed, struggling as hard as she could against her ropes. "NUUU!"

"I'm… sorry…" Ash coughed. "You wouldn't be in danger like this if I didn't make you worry about me… I kept everyone at bay because I thought no one else needed to feel the kind of pain I did…"

"Typical angsty teen." Vlad chided. "'Oh, I hate my pathetic life'! You have no idea how much life can REALLY suck, as you young people put it! Maybe if I just… I don't know…" he trailed off, charging a purple ecto-beam as he pointed his glowing hand at Jazz. "Kill the woman you love?! Maybe that'll get you to see just how bad life can really be!" He stood and gloated, but he wasn't gloating for long. With a rage-filled shout, Ash floored Skulker with a leg sweep. Ignoring the pain caused by this action, he jumped up and wrestled Vlad's hand downward with his left. His free hand summoned the Rift Sword and slammed Vlad in the side of the head. Vlad dropped immediately from the pain. Before Skulker could recover from being swept to the floor, Ash turned around and fired a Spirit Gun, blowing off the ghost hunter's right leg. He then continued with another, blowing off Skulker's left leg, then another, and another, until finally, Skulker was just a head with his true form stuck inside of it once more.

"You little…. Do you know how long it took to build this suit?!" Skulker shouted. "I'll get you for this, Kamoa boy!" he shouted, running off, as Ash turned his full fury upon Vlad Masters, who had since transformed into his alter-ego: Vlad Plasmius.

"There's one thing your little piece of shit gizmo didn't account for… I'm different from EVERY OTHER Kamoa in the universe." Ash said. "You sealed my Time magic, but not my power…" he trailed off, looking up at the clock, which struck midnight, all but sealing Masters' doom… "And now even THAT'S available to me again. Good. Means I can do THIS!" he finished by stopping time, then punching Masters repeatedly in the chest. Seconds later, he smirked, using a spell to return time to normal flow. Immediately, Plasmius screamed in agony, as several loud cracks could be heard by the three standing in the room -Or in Jazz's case, sitting-. "You hear that, Vladdie? That was your ribcage breaking… IN STEREO." The Rift Sword vanished once more as Ash slowly walked toward Plasmius. "I have this thing where I don't like to kill humans. You know, since I'm half-human myself. But ONE TIME, JUST THIS ONE TIME, I think I'll ignore that you're human!" Ash snarled, as he drew the Soul Sword from his sheath.

"Ash, please… you can't do this… I live and breathe, just like you and Jasmine over there!"

Plasmius pleaded, reverting to the form of Vlad Masters in a possible move to beg for his life.

"Not anymore you don't." Ash said, his eyes reflecting a cold, merciless indignation as he raised his sword. At that moment, Jazz's eyes widened as far as they could.

'He's going to… he's going to kill Vlad!' she thought in horror. He may have tried to do the same thing to them, but he was still a human being… an extremely misguided human being, but still… she thought back to every time that Ash expressed desire to protect someone. She saw that happier Ash start to fade away, replaced by the one who stood to her left. Suddenly, she exerted an extreme amount of force by shaking her head, and her exertions paid off. Moments later, her gag fell, allowing her to speak out, just as Ash was about to land the killing blow…

"**DON'T DO IT-!**" she screamed at the top of her lungs, and something inside of Ash woke up, as if he suddenly realized exactly what horrible crime he was about to commit.

"J…Jazz…" he gasped, looking over at her, then looking back at Vlad. However, Vlad took advantage of Ash's distraction to shoot him with an ecto-beam, causing him to land several feet back. Afterwards, Vlad, clutching his chest, slumped off, out of the chalet. Seconds later, Danny and Jenny entered. "What the hell kept you…?!" he gasped out.

"Well excuse me for not being surge protected!" Jenny countered.

"Ghost-powered teens don't make good lightning rods either…" Danny shrugged. "Are you okay?! Vlad just slumped by us. I can run back out and get him real quick."

"Leave him…" Ash smiled. "He's learned his lesson. I don't think we'll see him again for a long time…" He crawled to his feet and immediately began untying Jazz. As soon as her arms were free, she hugged him and started to cry. "I'm sorry…" he said. "This is all my fault."

"I'm so glad you're okay!" she said, continuing to cry as she hugged him for all she was worth.

* * *

As the four left Vlad's chalet, they could see Vikki flying off, with Vlad in tow. As they watched, Ash instinctively put his arm around Jazz. His next words shocked her as he gazed forward, looking at Kensuke and actually smiling.

"He's not a complete piece of shit after all… he helped us out." Ash said. Jazz slyly smirked and decided to take a stab in the dark as to Ash's relation to Kensuke.

"Your father was a great man… Kensuke didn't want to hear anyone talk about HIS father because they weren't there when his father died, and he thought his own father was a great man. You were three days old when you and your mom were sent forward in time, Kensuke spoke to your mom like he knew her very well… like she was a mother to him…Kensuke is your brother, isn't he?" Ash laughed in response, continuing to stare forward.

"Yeah. Yeah, he is." He was shocked to see Kensuke nod toward him with a smirk, before his wings sprouted and he flew off, just as Wayne and Riku ran up to everyone else.

* * *

"…So you DID tell her the truth…!" Dr. Zalmanov smiled. "Kensuke is your brother!"

"That's right. He is." Ash said. "Told you you'd like this one."

"I see you've taken HUGE steps toward recovery this week, Ash! I'm so proud of you!" Dr. Zalmanov gushed.

"I still have one thing left to do, Dr. Z." Ash pointed out. "I have some questions I want to ask Kensuke about Dad."

"This is good! Do you know where he's staying?"

"Yeah… I think so, anyway." Ash shrugged. "Guess I'll find out when I get there. I believe our hour is up!"

"Well, again, I'm proud of you Ash, and I can't wait to hear about your talk with your brother next week!"

"Thanks! Have a great week, Dr. Z!" Ash called back, walking out of the office with his head held high.

(Procol Harum: "A Whiter Shade of Pale")

All of a sudden, the phone in Dr. Zalmanov's office rang, and she walked over and picked it up.

"Hello?" she asked, and then her eyes narrowed. "I have no idea. Ash never said anything about where Masters escaped to…" she trailed off, walking over to the window and pulled the blinds apart to see Ash walk off. "He's heading toward Kensuke now." She said, as she took off her glasses, revealing herself to be Kitrala Aladar as she removed her blue contacts, revealing her natural green eyes, much like her husband's.

"He just wants to talk. I think he's starting to accept Kensuke as his brother. Do we really have to do this?" Kitrala asked. "Ash seems like a nice kid. Can't we just let him be? …I understand." She sighed. "I'll keep doing what I'm doing then."

* * *

Ash strolled down the street, feeling the wind blowing somewhat against him and embracing it with a large smile. It felt good to have his big secret out in the open at last, and he wondered why he hadn't done it sooner… or he would have, had he not seen his brother heading into the café across from the library. He threw up his right hand in a wave.

"Hey! Kensuke!" he shouted, getting his big brother's attention. The elder Kamoa turned his head.

"I see you're all healed up." Kensuke observed. "Good."

"Yeah. Hey, about that night…"

"I only stepped in cause you dying right there wasn't in our plans. It wouldn't have done any good for you to die then and there."

"Bullshit." Ash said. "You feel guilty about everything that's happened. I know that feeling now. I've come to terms with my past."

"…Good for you." Kensuke nodded.

"You getting a bite to eat?"

"Thinking about it. Why?"

"…I wanted to talk… y'know… about Dad. And the Empire." Ash said. "I know we're supposed to be enemies, but I want to know."

"Why didn't you ask Mom?" Kensuke raised his head, staring down suspiciously at his younger brother.

"She wasn't there. You were." Ash said. "I need to know what happened, Kensuke. You have the answers."

"…Very well." Kensuke conceded, turning toward the café as Ash followed him, finally sitting down to have a talk with his only sibling…


	57. Identities Revealed

PokeWing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 57: Identities Revealed

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke.

Disclaimer? It's like, in episodes 1, 25, 51, the movies. WOAH!

* * *

Ash sat in his bed, looking over at his communicator, thinking to himself. He was debating on whether or not to get ahold of Enma. Ash had almost always viewed him as an enormous pain in the ass, and yet, at the same time, he felt a certain fatherly concern from him when the chips were down. Perhaps that's why Enma had personally visited House Ketchum…? Maybe he was concerned for Ash's well-being, or so Ash was thinking at the moment. He found himself being friendly to nearly everyone in his life once again, even Wayne, though Wayne seemed to be picking and choosing his fights with the Kamoa teen in order to provide a distraction.

'Why didn't Ichiro tell me how to get that thing off?!' Ash thought. 'Wayne could be avoiding ALL of this pain if I knew how to transfer that bracelet to MY wrist. Maybe Enma knows…' he finished his thought by reaching over to his communicator and hitting the button, opening up the screen and revealing Ratty at Enma's desk, saying "Look at me, bitches! I'm Enma of the Spirit World! I sit on my lazy ass and order my rodent sidekick to fetch me the morning paper or some shit!" Ash cleared his throat loudly. "Oh… hey boy! Haven't heard from your ass in a while!"

"Hey Ratty, how's it going?" Ash asked. "Is Enma around?"

"No 'what the hell have ya been up to for the past year and a half'?!"

"What the hell have ya been up to for the past year and a half?!" Ash sighed.

"Runnin' Enma's errands, what else is new? Enma's too much of a slackbitch to do this shit himself!"

"Exactly what I thought." Ash smirked. "Is he around? I wanted to check in."

"Yeah, hang on." Ratty said, then got up and scampered away. A minute later, Enma had raced over to the communicator.

"Hey…Ash… oh man, I need to get in shape…" he gasped for breath.

"You're a god, how are you out of shape?!" Ash gave Enma a squinty-eyed look.

"I haven't done anything REMOTELY resembling exercise since I bitch-slapped Zenki through a building last year." Enma explained. "Damn… time for some Spirit World Aerobics."

"Uh… conversation? Hello?" Ash sighed, hanging his head and shaking it.

"Oh, right! You look good. How've you been?" Enma asked.

"Oh, pretty good. Had to kick Vlad's ass eight days ago." Ash explained. "Jazz told me she contacted you shortly before she was kidnapped."

"She was kidnapped?!" Enma looked stunned.

"Don't worry, I don't blame you for it. This whole shit that's been happening has been my fault." Ash admitted, much as he'd admitted it to Jazz eight days ago. "I've been taking steps against that. This is one of them. Sorry I got pissed at you back at the Kamoa Paradise."

"You had every right to, Ash. I knew more than your mother did about everything that went on."

"Speaking of… I talked to Kensuke. He filled me in on quite a few of the details."

"You spoke to him? And you didn't try to kill each other?!" Enma was genuinely stunned.

"He helped me save Jazz. He said Masters went rogue on him." Ash explained.

"There's more here going on than you or I can wrap our heads around, Ash." Enma spoke up after a few seconds of silence. "It's great that you talked to Kensuke and all, but I would avoid trusting him… at least for now."

"Don't worry. I just asked him about things I knew he'd answer honestly. I have no intention of growing close to him." Ash nodded. "He's still a murderer. But anyway, onto the main reason I called you…"

"I'm all ears, Ash." Enma snapped to attention.

"Ichiro told me how a non-Kamoa's arm would continue to lose feeling and eventually rot the longer they wore the Rift Bracelet. Wayne's arm has started rotting."

"I know, I've had to send Ratty and Botan just to contain the rot and keep it from killing him."

"Isn't there some way to transfer that thing to me so it stops killing him?!"

"Not unless you want their conflicting powers to rip you apart on the inside." Enma explained. "While you're very strong, utilizing the power of both Rift weapons at once from a single Kamoa would be like crossing the streams. No, there's only ONE way to get rid of that thing from Wayne's arm… and you aren't going to like it."

"I'm listening." Ash was wary, almost certain of what Enma was going to say…

"We need to transfer it to Jasmine."

* * *

(Title) Identities Revealed

* * *

"No." Ash immediately spoke up, reinforcing it a second later. "No, no, no! We are NOT dumping my mess on my girlfriend!"

"The only other option is to give it to Kensuke. I'd say Tatsuke, but I can't find him and unless we get it off of Wayne VERY soon, even Ratty and Botan's healing won't keep him from dying."

"How soon…?" Ash asked, eyes wide.

"He's got maybe a week." Enma sighed.

"No way…" Ash gasped, lowering his head. "Not Wayne. He's one of the toughest bastards I know!"

"Even he can't beat death." Enma said sadly. "No one can. Even if I DID still have a way to revive him, he'd die IMMEDIATELY again from the rot. I know you don't want Jasmine to take that bracelet… but I wouldn't have suggested it if it weren't our ONLY option."

"…I know. You need to get over here to Amity Park, then…" Ash trailed off.

"I'll be there in an hour, Ash." Enma said, ending the transmission. Just then, Ash heard a knock at his door. As he answered, Jazz literally leapt into his arms, locking her legs around his back as she greeted him with a deep, passionate kiss, which he gratefully returned. As the kiss ended, she got back down and hugged him for all she was worth.

"I missed you." She sighed contentedly as he returned the hug, holding her in his arms.

"I missed you too." He smiled down at her. In the year and a half that had passed, he had grown; now he stood taller than she did, albeit just barely. He kissed her again.

"I've been waiting to see you smile." She said, looking like she was about to cry tears of joy. "Welcome back, Ash."

"I'm glad to be back." He tightened his hug. "I love you."

"I love you too." She smiled at him as they separated.

"So what are you doing here early?" Ash asked out of curiosity, though he was more than happy to see Jazz at ANY time now.

"I just wanted to come see you." She gave him a peck on the cheek.

"I just wanted to thank you for understanding… about Misty, and about my brother."

"I told you from the beginning…" she play-punched him. "I'm not going to turn my back on you. All those times when I said it doesn't matter what you thought you did… I meant every word of that."

"I know…" Ash said, as his smile started to fade, confusing Jazz. "And that's why I HATE asking you to do what I need to ask you to do…"

"Wait… are you wanting to… you're not wanting to break up, are you?"

"No! No… never. I need you in my life, Jazz… last week proved that. I just didn't want you to get THIS involved." Ash sighed. "Wayne's dying. Thanks to my dad's bracelet, he's got about a week to live if we don't remove it AND his right arm."

"Oh god…" Jazz gasped.

"…I wouldn't ask this of you if there were ANY OTHER WAY. I need you to take the Bracelet. You're a Kamoa too. It won't kill you."

"Well then, why are you worried about giving it to me?" Jazz shrugged. "Seems harmless."

"Think about it, Jazz… Kensuke's going to eventually want to retake the Rift Sword and Bracelet if he succeeds in awakening the Unmaker." Ash looked away. "This should've been MY mess to deal with." He sighed.

"…Let's do it." Jazz spoke up after a few minutes of silence between them.

"You understand what you're getting into by doing this, right?"

"Don't worry… I'll be okay. Besides which… you're here with me. I have nothing to fear." She smiled warmly at him. Suddenly, he hugged her again, holding her close to him.

"I'm sorry. If I could use both of them, I would." Ash shook his head. "Enma said it'd be like crossing the streams."

"Don't worry about it, dork." She play-punched him again. "I'm not afraid. Like I said, you're here with me. I'm not afraid of anything when you're around."

"…I'm not invincible, Jazz." Ash sighed. "I wish I was… it'd make this upcoming death match a lot less frightening."

"Well… you'll beat Zenki. Don't worry." Jazz smiled, hugging Ash and giving him another peck on the cheek. As they stood there in each other's arms, Ash spoke up again.

"This feels right. I don't feel like I'm not worthy of this anymore…" he smiled again.

"You want to head on over to your old place?"

"Yeah, Enma said he'd be over in about an hour." Ash nodded. The two of them walked over to Ash's bedroom door, where he opened it and allowed her to leave first.

"Why, thank you." Jazz smiled, giving Ash a quick peck on the lips as he trailed right behind her.

* * *

"Honey!" Aimee called out from the door to Condo Williams/Kurosawa/Gray. "Ash and Jazz are here to see you!"

"What do they want?!" Wayne asked, sounding irritated.

"We're here to help you out." Ash said, coming into the eighteen year-old's line of sight.

"I don't NEED your help, nor do I want it." Wayne grumbled. "I'm fine."

"Enma told me… about your arm." Ash said.

"Did he now?" Wayne frowned. "Don't play dumb, Ketchum. I know you know about the rot. YOU told me it was going to happen, remember?!"

"Here's something I didn't know… you're dying." Ash explained. "Enma told me you've only stayed alive this long because he's been sending Ratty and Botan to heal your rot."

"Yes… IN _SECRET_, YOU DUMB SHIT!" Wayne roared in absolute rage as he caught the horrified look on Aimee's face.

"You're DYING?!" Aimee finally spoke up.

"Not anymore he's not." Ash said. "Enma'll be here momentarily and we're going to change the ownership of that bracelet."

"That'd be why I'm here." Jazz explained. "I'm going to transfer it to myself."

"I didn't ask you to." Wayne scowled.

"So what, you're just going to DIE because you're too proud to ask Ash and Jazz for help?!" Aimee shouted at her husband. "You god damn idiot! What good is that going to do?!"

"Your wife is right." Came Enma's voice as he stepped out of a portal from behind Aimee.

"Enma… dammit, I don't want Ketchum's help!"

"Shut up." Enma said in a dangerously low tone. "Grow up, Wayne. We don't always get what we want. We need you on this team, with or without your right arm. Is it really worth dying just so you don't owe Ash a favor?"

"I'm not asking for anything in return anyway." Ash shrugged. "Just trying to keep you from dying at the ripe age of EIGHTEEN."

"…How long will this take? And why didn't you tell me we could do this before?!" Wayne immediately pointed an accusing finger at Enma.

"Because Jasmine couldn't handle the transfer before. It's true she became stronger than a good deal of us for a minute during the battle against Shadow Wayne, but still… her powers have been silently developing for the past year and a half. It started with that enormous power boost, and then…"

"The visions." Jazz gasped. "But WHY visions?! Why have I been getting them?"

"I can only assume here… a high-powered Kamoa must have given you his or her blood before dying. All high-end Kamoa could see any number of possible paths the future could take." Enma explained. "THAT is why you're a Kamoa, Jazz. Your parents really ARE Jack and Maddie Fenton."

"But who would have given me the blood?" Jazz asked. "And more importantly… why?!"

"Some Kamoa… the nice ones, anyway, would see beyond their own futures and help those dying. If a Kamoa gave you his or her blood, it means you were on the verge of death at some point."

"So that's it…" Ash said. "We could sit here and go on about this, which, coincidentally, I'd love to do, but we really SHOULD do this."

"Please Wayne… for me…?" Aimee asked. "I don't want you to die."

Wayne glanced over at his wife for a few seconds, then sighed loudly. "You say NOTHING to Fenton about this, got it?!" he pointed at Ash.

"Got it." Ash sighed. Enma pointed to the couch.

"Ash, Jasmine, Wayne… the three of you sit down there." The three did as they were told, and Enma walked over to them. "No, Ash and Jasmine, you trade places. Ash needs to be right next to Wayne."

"Uh… why?" Ash asked.

"Your pendant is the key. And since removing it would EAT you with your own power, you need to be close enough to lean over and touch your pendant to that purple stone." Enma explained. Ash shrugged and traded spots with Jazz, then leaned in toward Wayne's right hand.

"Oh, the jokes I could make right now…" Wayne commented dryly.

"Don't even… I'm saving your thankless ass, aren't I?" Ash countered.

"Point." Wayne grumbled. "Hurry up. You're stinking up my air."

"Almost…" Ash stretched the pendant out as far as he could, BARELY tapping the purple stone with the tip of his pendant. As he did, Wayne gasped, as the magical bracelet, to everyone but Enma's amazement, snapped open. Enma immediately grabbed it. Ash jerked back up.

"Get Gray… she has some tranquilizers." Wayne groaned, looking down in amazement at his right wrist, now visible for the first time in two years. It was a much paler color than the rest of his arm, but then again, his arm was a rotting slab of meat.

"Valerie!" Aimee called out. "We need some tranquilizers! HURRY!"

Suddenly, the door to what used to be Yusuke's old room was opened, and out stepped a slightly taller Valerie Gray, holding a tranquilizer gun. She had not changed much since Ash last saw her, though she now had her hair pulled back in a ponytail.

"That bracelet came off?" Valerie asked, looking stunned as well.

"Sure did. Thanks to Ash!" Aimee pointed at Ash, who waved meekly.

"Okay, let's put you out, Wayne…" Valerie said, holding up her tranquilizer gun. "Ready?"

"Hang on…" Wayne said, turning to Ash. "Listen up. Riku's out with his wife. Jenny's at the park trying to pick up guys… I would rather ask them both on their WORST days, but since they're gone… I need you to amputate my right arm with one of your swords, Ketchum. And if you fail, I'll be waiting in the afterlife to beat you into a coma."

"I've got it, man." Ash confirmed. "Valerie, you can put him out now."

"G-g-guh…!" Wayne moaned, feeling pain in his arm. However, as he looked down… as everyone looked down, they all stared on in a combination of horror and amazement. Wayne's arm had started to look less rotten.

"It's… healing?!" Ash looked stunned beyond all belief.

"Amazing…" Enma said. "Maybe Ratty and Botan's healing is taking full effect!"

"But his arm was DYING." Jazz gasped. "Can they heal DEATH?!"

"No…" Enma said, putting his right hand to his chin as he held the now-free Rift Bracelet in his left.

"Haven't you dealt with this before, Enma?!" Ash asked.

"Only with Zenki. And we got the bracelet off before he even started losing feeling in his arm." Enma explained. "For all we know, the rot is caused ONLY by the Bracelet and disappears when the Bracelet is removed. I don't know how or WHY Sardius designed these items that way."

"Should we still go through with this? His arm looks nearly fine!" Valerie pointed out.

"…No." Wayne stared forward. "When my arm was dying… I was willing to do anything… even accept help from Ketchum here, to stay alive. But now…"

"We don't know for sure that it's healed." Enma frowned. "Maybe we should still cut it off."

"Does this look rotten to you?" Wayne countered, actually lifting his arm, though he wasn't able to do it well. Aimee started to weep happily.

"Honey… you're moving your arm!" she ran over and dove onto his lap, giving him a big hug.

"Well… they have a point." Ash commented. "He couldn't do that five minutes ago."

"There appears to still be some damage." Enma looked wary.

"It'll get better. I haven't used this arm in TWO MONTHS." Wayne sighed. "Of COURSE I'm having a little trouble with it!"

"I hope so." Enma returned the sigh. "For your sake, as well as Aimee's."

"Oh shit!" Ash yelled, looking at the time. "I gotta hurry home and change! I'm late for my appointment with Dr. Zalmanov!" The next thing he heard was the Rift Bracelet dropping to the ground, making a loud "CLACK" noise as it did so.

"…Ash, can I speak with you on the stairwell for a second?" Enma asked, his voice sounding grave.

"Better make it quick." Ash said, pointing at his watch. Enma opened the door and motioned for Ash to come outside, which he did so. As soon as Ash got outside, Enma shut the door behind them and started to talk in a really low voice.

"You said her name was Zalmanov?" Enma asked.

"Yeah, but wait… I never said she was a woman."

"I didn't need you to tell me… I know who she is. I just didn't think Kensuke would be this heartless."

"What do you mean…?" Ash asked, a certain tension growing in his voice.

"That woman… Zalmanov… she's a Warrior of God." Enma admitted.

"No…" Ash shook his head. "She's been nothing but nice to me. She's been genuinely interested in my progress!"

"Of course she is! She's sizing your mental state up to make sure you're ready to take on her husband!"

"Her hus... band… Zenki?!"

"Yes. Her real name is Kitrala Aladar."

"How the hell do you know this?!"

"Because Kitrala's maiden name is Zalmanov."

"And it couldn't be any OTHER doctor named Zalmanov?! I'm sure she's not the ONLY person on Earth with that last name." Ash threw up his hands in disgust.

"…There's a chance I'm wrong. But if I'm not… be wary of her, Ash. That's all I'm saying." Enma sighed. "Now let's go put that bracelet on your girlfriend's wrist."

"Wait… it freed with my pendant. She didn't have to do anything! Why does she still need to wear that bracelet?"

"That bracelet has a 24 hour mechanism on it once it's released. If it hasn't been transferred to a Kamoa within that time frame, the energy culminates in a MASSIVE explosion." Enma explained.

"How massive?"

"Massive as in 'Hope you enjoyed this dimension. It won't exist anymore if the timer runs out on it'." Enma shook his head. "And before you ask… I don't know WHY your father programmed something like that into the Rift Bracelet…"

"Hell of a defense mechanism?" Ash shrugged, then added with a sigh "I give up. Let's go put it on Jazz." The two then wandered back into the apartment. As they did so, everyone there was glancing over at them.

"What was THAT about?" Jazz asked.

"I'll tell you later… assuming Enma's right about what he told me." Ash sighed, as Enma picked up the bracelet. "Ready?" he asked. Jazz nodded wordlessly, holding out her right hand. Immediately, Enma set the opened bracelet down on Jazz's exposed flesh, and it immediately shut itself around her arm, frightening the eighteen-year old girl a bit.

"And we're done." Enma said.

"…I'm wearing a bracelet made by your dad for you and your brother." Jazz looked stunned as she glanced down.

"With this bracelet, you've accepted helping to make the universe safe from the Unmaker's diabolical plot to destroy and re-create it." Enma explained. "Ash… you need to get started training her as soon as possible. She has great power, but no idea whatsoever how to use it, kind of like Ayumu… but MUCH stronger. She could VERY well be as strong as you, Ash."

"No kidding… guess I should refrain from starting fights then." Ash joked, then glanced at his watch. "Oh crap, gonna be even MORE late!" he bolted toward the door, Jazz following him almost immediately, first snapping out of her trancelike state. The two of them ran down the stairs, leaving Wayne to hug Aimee as Valerie pulled Enma off to the side.

"You know, Enma… I've been doing the ghost hunting thing for a couple of years now…"

"What's your point, Miss Gray?" Enma asked nonchalantly.

"My POINT is that I can hear certain things better than some people. That is… I overheard you saying Ash's shrink is one of the bad guys."

"Might be…okay, I'm like, ninety-nine percent positive of this."

"So why are you letting him go there?!"

"Because Kitrala won't hurt him. She'll fix him long enough for him to get overconfident, and then Zenki will hurt him. Or in this case, KILL him. I have a plan, though…"

* * *

Ash and Jazz walked into House Ketchum, with the former yelling "MOM! I'M HOME!"

"Oh, hey honey! Look!" Delia dragged Ash over to the living room, where a man with short, spiky purple hair was hard at work getting a new phone installed. "The phone repairman came to fix the phone at last!"

"…" Ash cocked his head slightly, examining the phone repairman up and down. He wore a light blue pair of coveralls and a black hat, which he tipped silently as he got up and walked past Ash, time seeming to stop as he did so. Ash felt something… off about him.

"Excuse me." The man said.

"Sorry. Hey, have we met?" Ash asked, his voice full of suspicion.

"…No. We haven't." the man answered.

"…" Ash stared after him as he bent over to get some tools.

"What is it?" the man spoke up. "Don't like purple hair?"

"It's not that. I just can't shake this feeling I have…"

"Maybe we met in a past life or something." The man walked back over to finish installing the phone. As he did so, Delia thanked him, reaching for a fifty-dollar bill. The man shook his head, finally smiling. "It's on the house, ma'am."

"Oh! Uh… okay…" Delia looked confused, shrugging as he turned and walked away, stopping only to grab his tools. Immediately as he left, Ash picked up the phone and heard absolutely nothing on the other end.

"Well, now I know why he said it was on the house." His eyes narrowed in thought. "He's not a phone repairman, Mom. Listen." He held the phone up to his mother's ear. She gasped as she heard nothing.

"It's not hooked in right?" Jazz asked, after listening to the silence herself.

"Mom… did he go ANYWHERE else in the house?" Ash said, his voice dangerously low.

"Uh… he said he needed to use the downstairs bathroom, and he stopped to admire to potted plant there in the corner. He looked at your baby picture in the hallway before the staircase, and…" Delia trailed off, trying to think of anywhere else the man might have been. "…That's it."

"Say nothing…" Ash whispered, as he tiptoed over to the potted plant, bending over and feeling around in it until he found exactly what he was looking for… he held up the tiny piece of metal with wiring coming out of one side.

"(A bug?!)" Jazz mouthed silently.

"(Yeah. Bet there's more than that, too.)" Ash mouthed back. He checked the other two things Delia had mentioned thoroughly, and sure enough, he found bugs there as well. Looking out a window to see if the fake repairman was still around, he stepped outside, tossing the bugs into the air. "…That was NO repairman… did Kensuke send him too?"

"I don't know…" Delia admitted. "It was strange that he wanted NO money for a job allegedly well done."

"Of course it was." Came Enma's voice as he opened the front door, walking in. "You're right AND you're wrong, Ash. He's no repairman, but Kensuke didn't send him… at least, I'm pretty sure. While Kensuke's his leader, he takes orders better from Kitrala."

"Leader… THAT GUY was a Warrior of God?!" Ash looked freaked.

"Yes… the fourth and FINAL Warrior of God: Shiro Yamazaki." Enma said, his eyes narrowing. "He's the weakest of the four, but as you stand now, he still outclasses you."

"My future self unknowingly told me that there were four Warriors of God." Ash said, ignoring the last comment Enma made for the time being.

"I remember that!" Jazz exclaimed. "He said 'Depending on whether you count each person as an individual Spirit Detective or part of his group, we were either the second Spirit Detective ever or the fifth'!"

"That's right." Ash confirmed. "Without realizing it, he told me how many Warriors of God there are. I'm not surprised to see this Shiro guy."

"Ash… remember what I discussed with you in the apartment?" Enma suddenly asked. "Don't let on like you know."

"…I doubt what you said is the case, but sure… let's play it that way." Ash shrugged. "Speaking of…" he trailed off, heading for the door.

"Ash." Enma called after him. "No bullshit this time. I'm telling the truth."

"We'll see." Ash shrugged, leaving the three of them there, with Delia and Jazz wondering what the hell Enma was talking about.

* * *

Later, outside of her office, Ash sat with Dr. Zalmanov on an ornate marble bench. "Boy, you really wanted to get fancy today, eh Doc?" he asked.

"I thought you could do with a change of scenery. My office must be so boring to someone like you."

"Not really. I mean, at least it isn't school." Ash sighed.

"So you've been making some BIG changes in your life to get back to where you were a year and a half ago… or at least, that's what Jazz tells me." Kitrala smiled.

"I've given up drinking entirely and I've made a conscious effort to connect with Kensuke over our mutual tragedy. That isn't much to write home about." Ash shook his head.

"It's more than you think." Kitrala commented. "Most people can't even get past that…" she trailed off, her thoughts drifting to Kensuke himself.

"Something wrong, Doc?" Ash asked.

"No, it's nothing… just thinking about a friend of mine…"

"Oh…" Ash nodded.

"Anyway, let's get back to your progress. "I've also heard you're much more like you were a year and eight months ago." Ash responded to this with a thumbs up. "Great! That's excellent news, Ash! It means you've realized more and more what really matters to you." She cheered. Ash couldn't help but think about what Enma had said to him in the stairwell outside of his old place.

"Of course she is! She's sizing your mental state up to make sure you're ready to take on her husband!"

"Ash…?" Kitrala tilted her head slightly. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing… I was just thinking about my upcoming fight with Zenki." Ash lied. "Hey Dr. Z… are you married?" he surprised the incognito Warrior of God with his question, but she regained her composure almost immediately.

"Uh… yes, I am, actually. I've been married for about five years." She said. It was a half-truth in the sense that the five was in the actual number of years she and Zenki had been married so far.

"What's your husband like?"

"He's a wonderful man." In Kitrala's eyes, she was fully being honest. "So sweet and caring, and he's stuck by me through these five years… a lot of bad things have happened to us, but despite it all, we're still married."

"Sounds awesome, Dr. Z. Maybe one day Jazz and I could be like that." Ash commented.

"What's this?" Kitrala smirked playfully. "Three weeks ago you said you COULDN'T have those things, and now you're looking forward to that possibility? You ARE getting better!"

"Yup… the Warriors of God don't stand a chance against me now!"

"But is it just you against these four, or are your friends going to help?" This caused a huge pause between them, before Ash let out a slight chuckle.

"I'm such an idiot. Enma was right."

"About what?" Kitrala asked.

"You. You're no doctor. You're Kitrala Aladar!" Ash pointed an accusatory finger at the woman.

"What are you talking about?!"

"You said FOUR Warriors of God, bitch." Ash called her out on her mistake, and her eyes widened.

"I… Jazz told me." Kitrala stuttered.

"WRONG. Jazz only remembered there were four Warriors of God when Enma brought it up earlier after YOUR flunky showed up to bug my goddamn house!" Ash shouted. "What was his name again…?"

"Shiro." Kitrala admitted. "He's the son of our old teacher."

"He sucks at hiding shit." Ash grumbled.

"No I don't." came a voice from the tree above them as he leapt down. There before Ash and the now-identified Kitrala stood the phone repairman from earlier, now known as Shiro. He'd changed outfits to a mostly black ensemble: black jeans with a black muscle shirt. The only thing of his that wasn't black was a blue mantle he wore around his shoulders. His sudden appearance shocked the hell out of Ash.

'I didn't even sense him around…!'

"I see that look in your eyes." Shiro smirked. "How was I able to mask my Spirit Energy so totally that you never sensed me? I bet that's what you're wondering. Well, am I right?"

"Something like that." Ash said aloud as a single bead of sweat formed on his head and rolled down.

"It's a family secret. I've been doing it for a while, Asheron Raderia. I've seen EVERYTHING." He grinned. "Yes, I've been following you ever since you STARTED using the Rift Sword… and I was following Wayne before that."

"If you're so good at hiding yourself, why couldn't you hide three bugs more carefully?" Ash retorted.

"Who says there were only three?" Shiro's grin widened. "You only FOUND three. And those were the three I meant for you to find… to throw you off track. Have fun finding the other seventeen."

"You planted TWENTY bugs in my house?!" Ash looked freaked now.

"I can go anywhere, boy. They could BE anywhere in that house…"

"And they've already been recording you… If I weren't one of the four myself, then Shiro's recordings would have tipped me off about the four Warriors of God." Kitrala laughed, though her laugh appeared to have a tinge of sadness to it.

"You lied to me… why?! Why would you pretend to give a crap about me and my girlfriend only to turn around and BUG MY FUCKING HOUSE?!"

"Because… I DO care. But I also work for Kensuke Raderia, your older brother." Kitrala said. "Unlike Kensuke, I see that you're a nice boy. I'm sorry to have to do this… I really am."

"Enma was right all along…" Ash sighed.

"Of course he was right! I worked for him nearly fifty-eight years ago! He knows me better than anyone… except for Zenki, of course." Kitrala looked away.

"So this whole thing was about getting me fighting fit to take on your husband. Is that it?! IS IT?!" Ash shouted. He felt his good mood of the past week shattering like glass.

"It is. Or rather, it was…" Kitrala admitted. "I REALLY want to help you feel better, Ash!" she laid a hand on him, only for him to swat it away in a fit of fury.

"**DON'T TOUCH ME!**" Ash roared, only to have Shiro draw his sword and point it to the Kamoa teen's throat.

"Watch it, brat. Don't lay a finger on her." Shiro threatened, prompting a chuckle from Ash.

"Do it…" he laughed. "Everybody in my life has been lying to me… every single FUCKING PERSON."

"Jazz hasn't lied to you." Kitrala spoke up.

"Only a matter of time before that happens…" Ash sighed. "WELL?!" he shouted over at Shiro.

"Shiro! Put down your sword! We don't want people knowing who we are just yet!" Kitrala snapped. As Shiro reluctantly sheathed his sword, Ash noticed a few fire engines race by.

"What the…?!"

"It's probably just a fire." Kitrala suggested. Suddenly, Ash's communicator beeped rapidly. Ash, knowing that a rapid beep indicated a severe emergency, answered the communicator immediately.

"You were right." He greeted Enma immediately. "She's Kitrala."

"Worry about that later." Enma said, his face almost as white as a sheet. "We've got a MAJOR situation."

"What do you mean 'Major situation'?" Ash asked.

"…Casper High School has collapsed."


	58. Disaster

Pokewing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 58: Disaster

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke

Once again, we own no one aside from Janine, Wayne, Riku, Vikki, the Four Warriors of God, and the Unmaker. This is a story written merely for fun. No money is being made off of this idea. With that said, enjoy!

Why a disclaimer? This episode's WAY too serious to pull another one of those banal shorthand versions.

* * *

Ash sat in his bathroom floor, using his left hand to clutch a serious-looking wound to his right shoulder. In his other hand, he despondently held a glass full of vodka, as he closed his eyes, drowning out what he perceived as his mother's screams and the sound of her loudly banging against the door with her palm. He gasped in pain as he readied himself to down the glass he had in his hand…

* * *

TWELVE HOURS AGO

Suddenly, Ash's communicator beeped rapidly. Ash, knowing that a rapid beep indicated a severe emergency, answered the communicator immediately.

"You were right." He greeted Enma immediately. "She's Kitrala."

"Worry about that later." Enma said, his face almost as white as a sheet. "We've got a MAJOR situation."

"What do you mean 'Major situation'?" Ash asked.

"…Casper High School has collapsed."

Ash paused for a few seconds, trying to process what he'd just heard. "What do you MEAN collapsed?!"

"The second floor has caved in on itself…" Enma gasped out. "Over a hundred kids have died, Ash."

"YOU!" Ash turned around, pointing an accusatory finger at Kitrala and Shiro. "YOU CAUSED THIS, DIDN'T YOU?!"

"No, brat." Shiro commented coldly. "If it'd been US, we'd have killed _EVERYONE._"

"Kitrala and Shiro weren't behind this…" Enma looked like he was on the verge of tears. "…I was."

"…WHAT." Ash's jaw dropped in the non-comical sense.

"Your brother was in the area and I tried to talk to him… he opened fire on me, and I defended myself..."

"You can tell me the rest of the details later!" Ash said hastily, as he charged off, his wings spreading as he took to the air.

"I'll follow him, Shiro. Report to Zenki what's going on." Kitrala ordered. Shiro nodded in response, and then vanished into thin air as he took a step backwards.

* * *

"My GOD…" Ash gasped as he landed. He prepared himself for the worst, or so he thought. A hundred fights with Shadow Wayne, however, would never have prepared him for the horrific sight before him as he looked at the building. Not only had the second floor collapsed as Enma had said, but part of it had fallen in on the southwestern portion of the first floor, exposing the inside of the building. Firefighters were hard at work, clearing as much debris as possible while putting out fires that had started minutes ago. All around him, Ash could hear screams for help all around him, as well as sobbing, not to mention the painful moaning. He took in the sight once more. Though visibly he looked normal, he was filled with horror upon this sight…

* * *

(Title) Disaster

Guest Voices:

Steven Jay Blum – Kensuke

Wendee Lee – Kitrala

Samuel Vincent – Zenki

Travis Willingham – Shiro

Scott Menville – Robin

Tara Strong – Raven

Hynden Walch – Starfire

Khary Payton – Cyborg

Greg Cipes – Beast Boy

* * *

"Ash!" Danny shouted, after throwing a large chunk of debris into the air and vaporizing it with his ecto beam. "You have to find Enma and Kensuke! They went inside the building! Get them to stop fighting!"

"Kensuke started this, didn't he?!" Ash shouted in rage.

"No… Enma said he started it. To be fair, all he told Kensuke is that his dad would be disappointed in his course of action, and he FLIPPED!"

"Great. Big Bro has Daddy issues." Ash grumbled, walking into the rubble rather than using the front door. "Get ahold of Riku, Wayne, Jimmy, and Jenny! Get them down here on the double!"

"Right!" Danny called after Ash. Ash glanced around at what _used _to be Lancer's English class. He saw Lancer laying in the corner. Racing over, he checked the heavyset middle-aged man, only to be relieved to find that Lancer was still alive, just a little damaged. "Hey! Old man Lancer!"

"Uhh…" he moaned, slowly coming to. "What happened…?! Oh GOD, the school!" he shouted, a worried expression on his face. "THE TEENAGERS!"

"I'm sorry… many of them are already gone. I should have been functioning better… I should have kept this from happening." Ash admitted. "But you have to get out of here. This whole building could collapse in a few minutes."

"…" Lancer took a few seconds to compose himself. "Mr. Ketchum… what happened here…?"

"…Family issues." Ash confessed. "Don't worry, I'm gonna take care of it right now."

"Be careful, Ash." Lancer bid the young Kamoa goodbye, before running out of the exit created by the collapse. The next thing Ash saw, however, was the adjacent wall, as Enma's body crashed into him at full force, shoving him up against said wall.

"You GOD DAMN IDIOT!" Enma yelled toward Kensuke, who stomped menacingly into the classroom. "Look what's happened around you! Over a hundred lives have been lost because you took ONE thing I said too far!"

"Why did you even say it?!" Ash moaned from behind Enma, causing him to turn in surprise. "Left THAT part out, didn't you?!" he growled as he turned to face his boss.

"Of course he did!" Kensuke shouted. "It's what he's best at!"

"I admit I wasn't very coy when I said what I did, but it's true. Look around you, Kensuke. Your father loved humans. He was IN love with one… remember?!"

"Yeah!" Ash suddenly jumped to Enma's side. "You and I are half-human ourselves, remember?!"

"YOU stay out of this." Kensuke warned, a dangerous tone in his voice. "This fight has nothing to do with you!"

"But it does!" Ash argued. "It has EVERYTHING to do with me, Kensuke! In fact, I'm willing to bet this whole fight started cause YOU think Dad favored me!" he watched as Kensuke's expression turned to one of pure malice.

"Don't even…" he snarled.

"Kensuke… stop." Ash held up a hand. "I'm not here to fight with you. I just want to stop this."

"It's too late for that, Asheron." Kensuke said. "Our 'boss' made sure of that."

"You attacked me, Kensuke! Was I just supposed to sit there and LET you kill me?!" Enma shouted. "I warned you anyway about how dumb it would be to attack me!"

"Wait… HOW exactly did you fight off Kensuke, Enma?" Ash asked.

"Enma here is FAR stronger than either of us." Kensuke pointed out. "That's why I said we were doing his dirty work."

"…WHAT." Ash said flatly, yet loudly, as he stood gaping at Enma.

"It's true… I've been letting my Spirit Energy accumulate for over sixty years now. I could VERY easily take either of you out." Enma gazed down at the floor.

"So the whole time when Kensuke was KILLING THE KAMOA RACE OFF ONE BY ONE, you could have stopped him?!" Ash looked dumbstruck.

"…Yes." Enma admitted. Ash walked over toward Kensuke, then decided to speak up.

"You lied to me. Both of you did. Nothing new, I realize. You said you wanted me dead, but this was really more of a shot at Enma, wasn't it?"

"Both of you, actually." Kensuke said. "You have the power of the Legendary Hero and I NEED that po—"

"It's MY power. I didn't ask for it, but it's mine. Grow up and get over it." Ash scowled. "And YOU…" he turned, pointing a finger at Enma. "YOU did nothing to help two of the only family members I had left! You could have EASILY stomped a mudhole in Kensuke's ass and you just sat by and played cheerleader!"

"I did. I don't deny that." Enma said.

"Why?! Why would you let them die?!"

"Because the Dimensional Universe needs the Legendary Hero FAR more than it needed two Kamoa who haven't seen a human in over half a century!" Enma could tell IMMEDIATELY after saying what he did that he'd made a terrible mistake…

* * *

As Danny was helping clear rubble away from the entrance, Jazz ran up.

"Oh my God!" she gasped. "What HAPPENED here?!"

"Enma and Kensuke started a fight." Danny explained. "Ash went in there to find t—" he cut himself off as they both heard Ash screaming words neither of them would dare repeat in their own house. "He must have found them…"

"I've gotta go in after him!" she cried, running toward the source of Ash's yelling, only for Danny to grab ahold of her shoulder.

"No! This building could collapse at ANY second now!" Danny protested. "It's nothing short of a miracle it's stayed up this long!"

"All the more reason for me to go get him!" Jazz twisted away from Danny's grasp and ran into the building.

"JAZZ!" he broke into a dash after his sister. As they arrived in the gaping hole in the wall, they were stunned to see Ash sitting atop Enma, who now had a black eye. Ash snarled furiously as he looked down in disgust at Enma.

"You're scum…" he growled out, finally getting back to his feet. He turned around and walked toward the hallway, then stopped to say something to Enma. "I quit."

"Ash…" Jazz called out to him, causing him to turn his head toward her.

"Get out of here, Jazz. This building's falling apart. No telling when it'll come down."

"What about you?!" she protested.

"I'm gonna save as many as I can before this building collapses."

"There are at least 50 other people unaccounted for in this building, Ash! Even YOU can't save that many on your own! Let me go with you." Danny offered.

"Can you turn 50 or more people intangible?" Ash asked, to which Danny looked down. "Didn't think so. You'll just be in my way. You go help the others clear the way so we can get rescue teams in here."

"A lot of people were fleeing into the basement when the fight started." Enma moaned, clutching his left eye in pain. "Were they in the unaccounted 50?" he asked Danny.

"Yeah, probably." Danny didn't seem to pay much mind to Enma's question, instead wondering why Kensuke was standing there doing nothing as Ash marched off. "You know he's very possibly risking death just to help people out, don't you?!"

"What about it? I want him dead, remember?" Kensuke looked away.

"Bullshit." Enma coughed out. "You could have killed him at ANY point since he wandered in, but instead, you stood there even more ineffectually than I did. Zenki won't kill him in four months. You'll stop him from doing so."

"…" Kensuke snarled at Enma.

"And you know why…? Because you know you still have an emotional connection with him, even if you only knew him for three days."

"And what about you? You say he'll beat me… that he's stronger than I am already, yet you continue to crush his spirits with every lie you tell him." Kensuke pointed out. "You really think he wants to fight me? Look in the mirror and you tell me who he punched."

"I know who he punched. I felt it." Enma moaned again. "But I also know that Ash has a good head on his shoulders… you had that same head once. What happened to you?"

"…You let Dad die." Kensuke scowled, turning around and starting to walk off. "That's what happened."

"Kensuke..." Enma said, but then he spoke up again. "I didn't..." he muttered, and Danny and Jazz had the feeling that he was trying to convince even HIMSELF that his actions or inactions –since no one knew what happened except for Enma and Kensuke, they could only assume—didn't cause his best friend to die.

"Let's go." Danny said, guiding Jazz out and then turning around to help Enma up. However, as he reached for Enma's hand, Enma brushed him aside as he stood up and limped over to the large hole. He turned to Danny.

"If you've got your communicator on you…" he said slowly, handing Danny a piece of paper. "…Dial this frequency. These people owe us a favor anyway." I need to rest. I took a harder beating than I thought." He leaned over against the edge of the hole, climbing out and walking off. Danny looked down at the frequency code in his hand as he stepped out of the building. He stepped off to the side and dialed the frequency that Enma gave him. As the static faded, a boy wearing a black eye mask answered, starting to greet the ghost-powered teen, then realizing that the boy was a complete stranger.

"Who is this? How did you get this frequency?!" the boy shouted.

"Relax. Enma from Spirit World told me to contact someone on this end. My name is Danny." Danny explained. "Who are YOU? Enma just gave me your frequency. He didn't say anything about who you were."

"Enma… whatever he needs us for must be important. My name is Robin. I lead the Teen Titans. We helped one of his guys two years ago."

"Let me guess…" Danny chuckled. "Ash Ketchum, right?"

"Yeah, how do you know?"

"Like I said, name's Danny. I've been working with Ash since he arrived here in Amity Park nearly two years ago. Before that he used to mention stories about his trips through various dimensions. He brought up the Teen Titans in one of th—" he would have said more, but he was cut off by Enma, who jerked his hand over toward him. "OW, HEY!"

"Robin, I'm going to open a rift for you and the Teen Titans to come through. We need your help. The local high school has collapsed and Ash is in there risking his ass to clean up a mess he doesn't need to be cleaning up. I'll spare you the details. Just hurry. The rift should be opening any second."

"Right. Robin out." The boy nodded. Seconds later, he and his friends stepped through the rift into Amity Park.

"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." Beast Boy joked, causing a groan from Raven.

"Lord of good, what HAPPENED?!" Starfire exclaimed, looking upon the school.

"Ash's brother happened." Danny explained, deciding for some reason that he wasn't about to out Enma's involvement just yet.

"Whoa… Ash has a BROTHER?!" Beast Boy was surprised.

"He didn't mention that at all when he was in Jump City." Raven commented.

"He didn't know." Danny explained. "He found out a year ago. I'd say they're off in there right now. I don't know if they're working together or fighting…"

"Alright, here's the plan." Robin spoke up. "Cyborg, you and Starfire go in after Ash and his brother."

"Got it!" was Cyborg's response, as he and Starfire started to race off toward the building, only to be stopped as a familiar voice spoke up.

"If you couldn't take me almost two years ago…" Wayne spoke up. "You're NOT gonna be able to take Kensuke. He's roughly ten times more powerful than I am."

"You…!" Robin exclaimed. "TITANS, GO!" he shouted, directing them toward Wayne.

"Hold it!" Danny shouted, before any blows could be landed. "Wayne's on our side now!"

"Yeah… a lot happened since we saw each other last. I remember kicking the ever-loving SHIT out of you guys, though. Kensuke's WAY worse. Ketchum had to pull a miracle just to hold him off at the place the two of them met."

"Is it a miracle if Ash was BORN with that ability?" Enma interjected.

"Does it matter?" Danny quelled the both of them from going into a potential debate on Ash's innate status as the Legendary Hero. "Guys… and girls…" he trailed off, turning to the Teen Titans. "Can you help us clear all this rubble?"

"We'll get right on it." Robin nodded, as the Titans, Danny, and Wayne resumed clearing any and all large debris.

* * *

"Exactly who are you expecting to save, Asheron?" Kensuke asked, following his younger brother into the halls of Casper High as the latter sought out any survivors.

"Stop calling me Asheron." Ash growled. "My name's Ash Ketchum. I don't care what Mom and Dad named me when I was born. And what do you mean, anyway?"

"I mean there are a good deal of dead bodies…" Kensuke pointed out. "And it's not like they're going to remember what you did five years from now… or fifty. They're going to remember that over a hundred of their classmates died."

"But those that survive…" Ash trailed off. "…They'll live on. That's what's important. If I save all fifty lives… hell, even just ONE… it's worth it."

"Because they mean nothing to you." Kensuke pieced together. "If you know them… if someone you actually knew and cared about… if they died, that would change everything, wouldn't it?"

"Are you going to sit there and second-guess everything I say and do?! Cause if so, get the fuck away from me so I can do my damn job."

"It's not YOUR job anymore, Asheron! You quit, remember?!"

"And that's supposed to stop me from trying to save people because…?" Ash turned to meet Kensuke's gaze. "You're not an idiot, Kensuke. Fifty years ago, you'd have done the same thing I'm doing NOW."

"And again, I'm pointing out that none of it MATTERS in the end. They forget you even exist."

"What, you think I'm doing this cause I give a damn whether or not they remember that I saved their asses?"

"Hey, I'm not the one who thinks he has to prove something." Kensuke commented.

"Oh, aren't you?" Ash turned once again to meet his brother's gaze. "I'm not the one who wiped out our race just to prove he's stronger than a god. Now leave me alone. I have people to save. I'll deal with you after this."

"…" Kensuke started to say something, but hesitated as Ash walked out of his view. "Asheron…" he said to himself, standing there alone for a few minutes as Zenki walked up behind him.

"You really did it this time, Ken…" he spoke up.

"I assume Kitrala sent you?"

"Yeah. She's here too, helping the rescue effort. Why'd you let Enma get to you like that?!"

"…" Kensuke said nothing, staring at a small fire close by.

"…I know how it is. The world's changed." Zenki shook his head. "I was shocked too when I returned home."

"Your people are still alive… well, relatively speaking. Asheron, Tatsuke, and I… we are the ONLY remaining Kamoa."

"That could have been prevented, you know. " Zenki pointed out.

"I KNOW." Kensuke's eyes narrowed in anger. "I don't need to be reminded of my many mistakes!"

"Just saying." Zenki shrugged. "Aren't you going to go after him?"

"He can handle himself." Kensuke turned toward his friend, who shrugged again.

"Can he? He knows Kit is his therapist now." Zenki explained.

"That would explain why he's been extra hostile since he got here…" Kensuke gasped in realization.

"You know, unlike you, Kit was actually trying to HELP Asheron." Zenki added sternly. "I think she's grown a bit attached to the poor boy."

"Then that's her problem, now isn't it?" Kensuke said coldly. "I don't really care."

"Don't you? You could EASILY kill Asheron yourself and yet you're having ME do it. Even now that Vlad Masters is out of the picture, you're standing back and letting me do the dirty work. Maybe you really don't care whether he lives or dies, but you sure as hell don't want to look Delia or Botan in the eye and tell them YOU murdered your baby brother."

"…" Kensuke said nothing in response, causing Zenki to shake his head and walk off. Seconds later, Kensuke turned back in the direction Ash had walked off to…

* * *

"Come ON! STUPID DOOR!" Ash shouted, shaking the door, but getting no leeway in opening it. "Hey! If anyone's on the other side of this door, STAND CLEAR!" he shouted. "SPIRIT G—" he started to shout.

"NO!" Kensuke shouted after him, running up. "There's gotta be exposed gas lines everywhere. If you do something like that, you may blow this place off of the map!"

"'The hell do you care?!" Ash countered. "You WANT every human dead."

"And you don't. Don't be stupid, Asheron." Kensuke shook his finger.

"So what, I just leave any survivors in there for the rest of the second floor to fall in on them?!" Ash argued.

"Not at all. Let's kick down the door… together." Kensuke suggested, causing Ash to raise his eyebrows in confusion, only to shrug seconds later and stand in perfect file with his older brother. He lifted his left leg, while Kensuke lifted his right. Seconds later, they forced the door open with mighty kicks. Immediately, Star came running out, sobbing.

"Star… STAR!" Ash shouted, grabbing her as she put her arms around him, sobbing hysterically.

"Most of my friends a… are…!" she couldn't finish without breaking into another sobbing fit, as Ash gave her a comforting hug.

"It'll be okay. Get out of here, fast. This place could go any minute." Ash instructed. As Star wordlessly followed his order, he looked into the nightmarish room. There were people half-buried under debris, lying in pools of their own blood. None of them were still alive. He was interrupted by Star screaming as a large piece of debris started falling toward her.

"LOOK OUT!" Ash shouted, racing over and shoving her out of the way, barely avoiding getting crushed himself. However, he wasn't entirely without injury. A sharp edge of the debris slashed open his right shoulder, causing him to yelp in pain.

"Asheron!" Kensuke shouted.

"G… go! Now!" Ash ignored Kensuke long enough to order Star. She paused for a second, and he roared angrily in response. "**NOW!**" She paused only a second longer, before turning and running toward the nearest exit.

"This is what happens when you help humans." Kensuke ignored his own concern for his brother.

"**SHUT UP.**" Ash turned, snarling. "We're half-human ourselves, idiot. Or did you forget that?"

"I ignore that half of me." Kensuke shrugged.

"Is that why you chose to help me?" Ash turned toward his brother.

"…Just shut up and come on." Kensuke sighed. "A distracted person makes a distracted professional, and I want to see you at one hundred percent when you and Zenki fight in four months."

"You don't seem worried about your friend." Ash commented, as he and Kensuke proceeded farther down the hallway.

"Zenki's only ever lost to two people. One of them is me."

"And the other?"

"Dad. I met Zenki when he would show up in the Balance Dimension and fight Dad every now and then to show the results of his training."

"Huh. Did he ever beat Dad?"

"Not even once. Dad was powerful… even moreso than I am." Kensuke looked away.

"…Hey. Check it out." Ash changed the subject, pointing to the debris in front of the door leading to the next section of the hallway. He started to lift on the debris, trying to ignore the pain of his shoulder. When he found that he was unable to do that, he turned to his brother. "Help me out, Kensuke."

"Yeah, sure…" Kensuke trailed off, walking over to help his younger brother…

* * *

"Damn…" Riku whistled, looking at the thoroughly destroyed high school as he immediately got to work clearing debris over where Wayne was. "What happened here?"

"Enma and Kensuke got in a fight. What you see before you USED to be Casper High School." Wayne pointed out.

"I KNOW what it was. I just didn't know WHO had done this."

"And now you do. Help me move this chunk of concrete." Wayne instructed. Riku looked at Wayne for a minute, puzzled.

"You really expect me to do this by myself?"

"Not at all. That's why I said help me."

"And you're sure you can help clear heavy debris like this with only one arm?"

"Oh, not at all. It'd be physically impossible if I only had my left arm… good thing I can use both again." Wayne smirked, holding up his right arm and illustrating that he no longer held the Rift Bracelet. Riku looked stunned.

"It's… the Rift Bracelet is gone!" he gasped.

"Yes it is. In one of the only cool things he'll ever do in his life, Ketchum got the bracelet off of me and put it on Jazz's wrist."

"Why Jazz?" Riku asked. "Because she's also a Kamoa?"

"Well, he could theoretically only give it to Kensuke otherwise. Now enough talk, are you going to help me move this or not?" Riku nodded and grabbed one end, hefting it up as Wayne grabbed the other end. However, this turned out to be a foolish move on Wayne's part, as he immediately felt the strain on his right arm.

"A…AH… DAMN!" he shouted, letting go and hopping back before the concrete could crush his toes. Riku also hopped back, letting go of the big slab.

"You can use both again, huh?" Riku eyed his best friend's right arm.

"It… it must just be where I haven't used it in a few months." Wayne answered confidently, but he wasn't fooling Riku at all, for the taller man noticed the frightened look on his friend's face.

"And here I thought it was the rape of every magical law known to ancient El'her." Riku commented sarcastically. "That arm should have died twenty times by now. If Ratty and Botan hadn't been healing you every time the rot started to spread, you've have succumbed to this months ago. That much healing magic could potentially backfire and actually HURT you in the long run."

"Don't… that… that can't be…" Wayne said. "I need this arm… I NEED it…"

"Why do you need your arm?" came Zenki's voice as he approached his former students, who were shocked to see him. The shock quickly wore off as Wayne spoke up, however.

"You know DAMN WELL why I need this arm!"

"Okay, I'm not touching that with a twenty foot pole." Zenki threw up his arms.

"I DON'T NEED IT FOR MASTURBATION." Wayne groaned. "I need it to kick your ass."

"And now I'm walking over here so I can let his life lesson from the Kamoa Paradise sink in…" Riku whistled.

"Wait… what?" Wayne asked.

"I was still trying to teach you something in the Kamoa Paradise, Wayne. Riku realized it." Zenki explained. "You can't win every fight you get into. You should know that better than anyone. HOW many times did you fight Ash Ketchum when you were possessed by that stupid shadow? And how many times did he and his friends kick your ass?"

"I guess you have a point." Wayne shrugged, relaxing a bit. "But why not just SAY what you were trying to do?!"

"Has that EVER been my style, Wayne?" Zenki walked over next to the eighteen year-old, and nodded over to Riku. "Come on, Riku, help me out here. We'll move this. Wayne, just brace it with your left hand."

"Don't talk to me like I'm a damn CRIPPLE!" Wayne shouted.

"He's not." Riku sighed. "How often have you had to use your left hand now? And I'm not referring to sexually-explicit overtones. By all logic, it should now be your dominant hand."

"Riku's right again, Wayne. I don't play to my opponents' weaknesses. I play to their strengths." Zenki explained. "Now are you going to help us out?"

"…Yeah." Wayne said, lightening up a bit as he helped Riku and Zenki clear the debris with ease.

"See? Strength. I bet it'll take no time at all for you to get back full use of your right arm, at the rate you're going. If I survive my encounter with Ash Ketchum four months from now, I'd like to fight you again."

"Why? You know everything I'm capable of… you TAUGHT it to me." Wayne sighed. "I couldn't last ten minutes against you." He admitted.

"And yet, you did. You, Riku, Jenny, and that guy Tatsuke all lasted for at least TWENTY minutes against me." Zenki laughed as he lifted on another heavy stone slab. "And you WON!"

"Yeah, because you were using FOUR PERCENT of your power. We all heard you. Besides, it was Tatsuke who won that fight. Not us. I was the first person you beat up."

"I had to go WAY beyond my usual limits, Wayne. For safety's sake, I don't like going beyond 39 percent of my power." Zenki explained. "I never quite learned to control it. But you, Riku, Jenny, and Tatsuke pushed me to 45 percent. If Tatsuke hadn't beaten me when he did, I would have had to go even farther beyond that… and then the Kamoa Paradise wouldn't have needed to be burned… there'd just have been NOTHING LEFT." He emphasized.

"…" Wayne glanced over at his former teacher. "I've been meaning to ask you this for… well, I guess it's been ten years now… but… my parents were murdered twelve years ago by a man named Cassion Aladar." He watched as Zenki dropped the stone slab with a loud thud.

"I… don't know who that is." Zenki said.

"You have the same last name. Isn't that a little TOO convenient?" Wayne arched his head.

"I SAID I don't know that man." Zenki's voice had changed, from soft and jovial to chilling and dangerous, as though Wayne's next words might be his last. Wayne just shrugged.

"Just thought I'd ask."

"…Sorry." Zenki's voice no longer sounded dangerous, but he was still perturbed about the question, as Riku could plainly see from the look on his master's face. "Let's talk about something else." He lifted the stone slab on his own, a softened, but still dangerous expression on his face, putting a quick end to Wayne's questioning. However, Wayne brought up another question shortly afterward…

"So… have you given thought to what you want to do when you DO defeat the Unmaker?"

"Plenty of it." Zenki affirmed.

"And?"

"We'll just have to see, won't we?" Zenki smirked knowingly as he spied Kitrala from across the schoolyard. "Excuse me, boys. My wife is here." He then walked off, leaving Wayne and Riku to stare after him, before Wayne spoke up.

"Man, I HATE when he does that." He sighed.

"…Yeah, it is pretty annoying." Riku agreed.

"The subject of Cassion Aladar seems to be a berserk button of sorts for him…" Wayne trailed off. "Maybe a brother of his own?"

"Does it matter? If Zenki doesn't want to talk about it, he won't."

"Maybe Kitrala will." Wayne thought aloud.

"DON'T." Riku warned gravely. "Remember the one time you ever said anything to Kitrala behind Zenki's back? It'd be JUST like that."

"Oh right… I still have the scar." Wayne said, lifting his shirt briefly to look down at the hideous scar across his stomach. It was almost lightning-shaped, which he figured was the point: that saying anything about Zenki's wife was grounds for a severe beating…

* * *

As Ash and Kensuke kicked open one last door, several students ran out.

"This was the last door, Asheron." Kensuke suggested.

"Wait!" One of the students, Dash's best friend Kwan, spoke up. "There were some people who were playing hooky down in the basement!"

"Thanks. Get out of here, man." Ash nodded. "I'll take it from here."

"Who DID this, Ketchum?!" Kwan looked frightened.

"…" Ash remained silent, knowing EXACTLY who had caused the collapse. Kensuke started to speak up. "I—"

"Don't know who did it. Just like me." Ash shrugged. "But when we find the bastard, we'll make him or her pay. Now get out of here. This place could go any minute now." Wordlessly, Kwan and the remaining teenagers ran away, out of the building. Kensuke stood there for a minute before speaking up again.

"Why did you lie for me, Asheron?"

"It's none of their business." Ash answered coldly. "You're my responsibility, and when we get everyone to safety, I'll be happy to rid myself of that responsibility." Ash emphasized his point by punching his left palm with his right fist.

"I FAR outclass you. It'd be watching a kitten fight a lion." Kensuke commented.

"I beat Shadow Wayne when he FAR outclassed me." Ash turned around, a smirk on his face. "I'm willing to die to stop you. How far are you willing to go to keep that from happening?"

"…Why don't we save the answer for the fight? Assuming you beat Zenki, that is." Kensuke remarked. "You'll need to save every bit of strength for then."

"Where the hell's that basement already?!" Ash grumbled.

"Don't ignore me."

"So I should listen to you act like a broken damn record?" Ash scowled. "'You're no match for Zenki! I will be the Legendary Hero of the Kamoa! Don't talk about Dad or the Empire. You weren't there, you don't know what it was like!' GOD, you're boring!"

"I'm not BORING." Kensuke argued. "I'm just trying to get my revenge."

"Is revenge on the Unmaker the ONLY thing you can think of?!" Ash threw up his arms wildly. "There are other things in this world to do once the mean, nasty dark god is dead!"

"I'm more of an 'in the now' kinda guy. If Dad were still alive, you could ask him. They say he could see the future." All of a sudden, the door to the basement came into view.

"There it is… and Dad must not have been very good at it." Ash shrugged.

"What… do you mean by that?" Kensuke asked, tension in his voice as Ash pushed open the door.

"I mean…" Ash turned his head. "Dad didn't see his own death coming." He had absolutely no time to react as Kensuke angrily backhanded him.

"You WORTHLESS PILE OF SHIT! DON'T TALK ABOUT OUR FATHER!"

"Told you…" Ash coughed, as he rubbed himself. "You're a damn broken record. Say something original."

"How's this? I'm going to beat your thankless ass all over this school!" Kensuke threatened, but before he could lift another finger to fight his brother, they heard a very loud rumbling.

"Oh shit… it's coming down!" Ash shouted. "QUICK! GET IN!" he motioned to Kensuke, who, after hesitating for a minute, dove into the open door. Ash shut it and the two scrambled for the ground immediately. No sooner had they reached their destination than they heard the collapse of the above building. Ash braced for rubble to fall onto them, killing them instantly, but amazingly, the ceiling of the basement remained intact. The stairway itself, however, was not so fortunate, as pounds of rubble spilled downward. Ash and Kensuke barely managed to avoid the avalanche of rubble. As they stood up slowly, Ash brushed himself off and coughed loudly.

"'The hell did they make this ceiling out of?" Ash asked, noticing that the ceiling was still intact.

"Who knows… we're still alive, and that's what counts." Kensuke shrugged.

"I thought you were going to kick my ass?" Ash suddenly pointed out to his older brother. "That was ten seconds ago! Did you really forget that already?!"

"Ten seconds ago, the building wasn't falling on us."

"I guess that's true. So now what?" Before Kensuke could speak up in response, the communicator beeped wildly. Ash touched the button on the side, turning on the main screen. "Ash here."

"Oh thank god!" Jazz exclaimed. "We saw the collapse and feared the worst!"

"I'm fine…" he trailed off. "Well… alive, anyway. Kensuke is too."

"We had to clear out the area due to the collapse, but we'll resume digging right away! We'll have you out of there in no time!"

"It'll probably be more like ten hours, even with heavy duty equipment. There's at least 20 tons of rubble over our heads. It's a miracle that this ceiling hasn't collapsed in on us yet." Kensuke observed.

"Well, that's just great." Ash sighed.

"Hang on!" came Danny's voice, as he pulled his communicator back toward himself. "I can phase whoever's left out one by one! We'll worry about cleaning this up afterward!"

"Yeah… that could work." Ash admitted. "I don't know how many people are down here, though. Let me call you back as soon as I get a head count."

"Sure thing. " Danny nodded, ending the communication. Just then, Ash and Kensuke heard someone call faintly for help.

"Hey… there's someone over behind that blocked-off door." Ash pointed over to a door they hadn't noticed just yet, due to their brush with death a few minutes earlier.

"Let's check it out." Kensuke suggested. As they moved over to the door, they immediately began to clear the debris.

"Why don't we just blast it away?" Ash suggested.

"Too dangerous. There's an exposed gas line over there." Kensuke pointed out. Sure enough, there was an exposed gas line in the vicinity. "If we even cause a SPARK, it'd most likely blow us and everyone down here to hell."

"Good point… and good eye too, by the way. I'd never have noticed that."

"You'll get that kind of eye too if you live to be my age and fight as many battles as I have." Kensuke half-encouraged his younger brother.

"Erm… thanks?" Ash asked. As he finished speaking, the two managed to clear away enough rubble to get into the room that had been previously blocked off. As they got inside, they saw several people sitting there. Among them was Danny's not-yet-significant significant other, Sam Manson, laying there, unconscious.

"Oh FUCK." Ash said, fearing the worst as he raced over to Sam. "Sam! SAM! Get up!"

"Ohhh…" she moaned, slowly awakening. "What happened…? Ash…?"

"Casper High School collapsed. You're lucky to be alive." Ash explained. "Is there anyone else besides you down here?"

"Yeah, there was one person… she left the room just before the ground started to shake." Sam explained.

"Okay, cool. All of you get ready, I'll call Danny." Ash instructed.

"Asheron!" Kensuke shouted, alerting Ash to the fact that his brother was not in the room with him. He looked around and saw Kensuke standing next to a pile of debris. Underneath it, half buried, was a teenage girl with long brown hair. "Samantha, is this the girl?"

"Who are you, and how do you know my name?" Sam was confused. "And why do you look like him?" she pointed at Ash.

"Long story short, he's my older brother. He's been spying on us the entire time with one of his cronies."

"Shiro." Kensuke pointed out.

"Don't care. So he knows about everyone I've had even SLIGHT contact with."

"Guilty as charged." Kensuke admitted without skipping a beat as he managed to free the girl from the debris. As he did, his eyes widened at a cut on her leg. Perhaps he was being too optimistic by rationalizing it as a cut. As the girl showed signs of life, he gravely took note of the depth of the cut.

"Asheron, her femoral artery is nicked."

"So?! We'll get Botan to fix it." Ash argued.

"My wife can't repair arteries… especially those THIS important to the body. Asheron… this girl is going to die." Kensuke finished, the grim specter of what he'd said lingering in the dank old basement…


	59. Changes

PokeWing Z: Dimension Rifters, Episode 59: Changes

A mega-crossover fic by Dustin Dixon, Caleb McGlone, and Rob Volzke.

Once again, we own no one aside from Janine, Wayne, Riku, Vikki, the Four Warriors of God, and the Unmaker. This is a story written merely for fun. No money is being made off of this idea. With that said, enjoy!

Why a disclaimer? This episode's WAY too serious to pull another one of those banal shorthand versions.

* * *

As Ash sat there along with Kensuke, Sam, and the unidentified girl, he began to ponder the events that had led them there. He stared off into space, prompting an inquiry from his brother.

"Asheron? What's on your mind?"

"I was trying to piece together everything that's happened today. Dick move, by the way. I found out about Kitrala." Ash grumbled.

"And?" Was Kensuke's simple response. "Yes, I sent her to get you fit to fight Zenki."

"And I started thinking you weren't all bad… god damn it, I'm a moron."

"For trusting someone who actually gave a damn about you? Kitrala, not me, I mean." Kensuke glared at his brother. "For some reason I can't fathom, she really wants to see you make it out alive. Probably because she knows you're too much of a wuss to actually KILL her husband."

"I'm not too much of a wuss to kill ANYONE. I killed Shadow Wayne, and I can kill YOUR worthless ass!" Ash shouted, the Rift Sword materializing in his hand. Kensuke then brandished his broadsword. Before they could attack each other, however, Sam interrupted.

"GUYS! What good's fighting down here going to do?!" she shouted. "I don't want my last moments to be spent watching two brothers kill each other!"

"Don't talk like that, Sam. You're gonna make it out of here alive." Ash assured her. "I'll just call Danny…" he finished his sentence by pushing the button on his watch, allowing the screen to turn on. "Hey Danny! The only people down here are me, Kensuke, Sam, and an unconscious girl."

"SAM?!" Danny shouted in disbelief. "What the HELL are YOU doing down there?!"

"Tell ya later. I promise! Hurry Danny! I think I smell gas!"

"She's right…" Kensuke chimed in. "Ghost kid, there's gas down here. We may only have a few minutes before this goes tits up."

* * *

(Title) Changes

* * *

"I'll be down there in just a second!" Danny shouted.

"Wait! Ghost kid… go find Shiro real quick! I imagine you can only get one of us out at once, right?" Kensuke hazarded a guess.

"Yeah. You said his name was Shiro?" Danny asked.

"Yes. Get him, he can also phase through things!" Kensuke said.

"Right!" he shouted in response, ending the communication.

"Now all we have to do is wait…" Kensuke sighed, sitting down and staring at the unconscious female in their midst.

"You gonna have Shiro grab one of us?"

"I figured he could grab that girl. That way, we'll be able to save her life." Kensuke explained, as his brother sat down.

"I'm stunned." Ash said. "I thought you'd have him save your ass and leave me and the girl for dead."

"Of course I'm not leaving you to die. You have a death match in four months." He retaliated. After several moments of shared silence, he spoke up again. "Why didn't you?"

"Huh?"

"Why didn't you let the building fall on me back there?"

"So you WANT to die?"

"Didn't say that. But it was NOT in your best interest to let me live."

"It wasn't in my best interest NOT to let you live either." Ash sighed. "I don't know why I saved you. I just did. Call it program reflex, heroism, or whatever the fuck you want to call it. I don't care."

"Wasn't gonna say anything else…" Kensuke trailed off, laying back and staring at the ceiling.

"Shouldn't you be worried about the DEADLY GAS LEAK?!" Ash shouted, noticing his brother's relaxed state.

"No, not for the moment. We can't do anything about it, and our auras will keep us safe for now." Kensuke shut his eyes. Just then, Danny phased through the roof, crashing to the floor as he turned human again. This caused Ash to shoot up and dash toward his friend, though Sam beat him to the punch.

"Danny! Are you okay?!"

"Took the words out of my mouth!" Ash argued.

"Ghost attack… a TON of ghosts are up there attacking everyone…!" Danny reported in a panicked tone, getting the attention of Kensuke.

"What do you MEAN a 'ton'?! Who sent them?!" Kensuke shouted.

"I saw Vikki with a few of them!" Danny replied, causing Kensuke's eyes to go wide.

"Vikki… Masters?!" he snarled, as he leapt to his feet, walking over to the nearest wall and punching it in rage. "GOD DAMN IT!" He then spun around to face Ash in record time. "WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU KILL MASTERS WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE?!"

"I could ask the same thing about why you didn't kill Vikki!" Ash argued. "Danny saw HER with these ghosts, not Vlad."

"Yes, but who do you think told her to gather a bunch of ghosts to attack us while our backs were turned?!"

"Now see here, dammit!" Ash spoke up. "I'm not gonna kill people just cause they MIGHT come back stronger! I've beaten Vlad before!"

"All it takes is something like this, though… while you're down here, he could be attacking the people you love, and you'd have no way of stopping him!" Kensuke pointed angrily at his brother.

"…"

"That happened with your girlfriend. I assume you remember."

"Of course I do…" Ash trailed off, his hands balling into fists as he began to snarl.

"Why are they fighting like this?" Danny asked Sam. "I thought Kensuke helped me and Ash out when we were saving Jazz."

"Kensuke ALSO sent one of his old buddies to spy on Ash." Sam explained. "She tried to make him fighting fit for Zenki."

"Don't forget the one he's been having spy on me EVER SINCE I GOT THE DAMN RIFT SWORD." Ash growled.

"Wait… WHAT?!" Sam and Danny both shouted.

"That guy Shiro, the one he was sending you after, has been watching us the entire time I've been using Dad's sword." Ash explained, calmer this time, although Danny knew his friend could go apeshit at any minute.

"It's been longer than that, actually." Kensuke corrected him. "Shiro has been watching someone in your group ever since he and Zenki parted ways nearly four years ago."

"Wayne. I know it's Wayne, why didn't you just say Wayne?!" Ash threw up his arms in exasperation.

"What, and spoil the surprise for everyone else?" Kensuke remarked sarcastically.

"I bet you think this whole 'screw with Asheron' thing is a big joke, don't you?!" Ash raised a fist threateningly.

"You REALLY want to fight in the room with the deadly gas?" Kensuke responded in kind, raising his own fist. "Besides…" he trailed off, a smirk forming on his face. "I thought your name was Ash, as you keep insisting."

"It is! God damn it, that's i—" Ash got ready to punch his brother, but was cut off by Sam and Danny simultaneously.

"KNOCK IT OFF!" they shouted. Reluctantly, Ash and Kensuke backed off, as they heard the unconscious girl start to moan, slowly coming to.

"Ohhh…" she moaned, then immediately began to whimper in pain.

"Hey!" Ash ran over and knelt by the unidentified girl. "Hey, can you hear me?"

"My parents…" she moaned. "Where are my parents…?"

"I have no idea… most likely because I have no idea who YOU are."

"Harmony… Harmony Howard…" the now-identified Harmony said, her vision still blurry as her mind struggled to piece everything together. "Who are you…?"

"My name's Ash Ketchum." He said. As Kensuke lifted a finger to correct him, he quickly snapped at him. "SHUT UP. It's not Asheron. It's Ash."

"You know, just denying your real name doesn't change it to the name you prefer." Kensuke shrugged.

"Would you lay off already?!" Danny griped on Ash's behalf. "He's whatever he wants to be called."

"You know, I bet if you spent more time taking your girlfriend up to the surface, we'd be out of here by now." Kensuke casually mentioned.

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"I'm not his girlfriend!"

A pause.

"...Officially." they concluded simultaneously.

"Wait, you two still haven't gotten together?!" Ash looked dumbstruck.

"We're kinda waiting until we graduate in two years." Sam pointed out, before Kensuke interrupted any further discussion of the love lives of Danny Fenton and Sam Manson.

"Uh… hello? Gas?!" he shouted.

"Gas?!" Harmony repeated. "Oh god…"

"Don't you worry…" Ash turned his attention to Harmony. "We'll get out of here. I promise."

"Right. I'll come back and get you next!" Danny agreed, scooping Sam into his arms and transforming, before phasing through the ceiling and leaving the Raderia brothers to sit with Harmony…

* * *

"Come on!" Vikki shouted tauntingly at Zenki. "Can't you hit me, old man?!"

"Dammit… she's faster than I realized." He growled. 'I can't go over fifty percent… not after what happened last time…' he thought. He was interrupted from his thoughts by one of Vikki's lightning bolts, which he had barely managed to dodge.

"You stupid little tart!" Kitrala shouted, flipping Vikki the bird as she brandished her clawed gauntlets.

"What are you gonna do, granny?! All you've got are those clawed gauntlets, and—OH CRAP!" Vikki cut herself off, barely dodging a volley of needle-like claws, launched from the very gauntlet she had just mocked.

"Sorry, couldn't hear that!" Kitrala smirked. "All I could hear was you screaming… LIKE A BITCH."

"Why you little…" Vikki growled, summoning an enormous cloud above her head. "DON'T YOU MOCK ME!" she screamed, sending lightning crashing down furiously around her in a twenty-foot radius. It was all Zenki and Kitrala could do just to keep avoiding her.

* * *

"So Harmony…" Ash trailed off, as he sat back down. "You from around here?"

"Sort of… I'm from Bloomsberg…" she said, still sounding dazed, and after a few minutes of staring at her, Kensuke realized why in shock.

"Ash…" he trailed off, causing Ash's eyes to widen considerably.

"You… called me by my name. I didn't know you were capable."

"I figured it'd be better to address you as Ash for this since you won't respond to Asheron with anything other than outright hostility." Kensuke explained, then motioned for Ash to join him over in the corner.

"What is it?"

"I think she's got less time than I figured originally." he noted grimly. "Look at how she's bleeding from her mouth."

"Couldn't that just be a cut inside her mouth?" Ash asked.

"Ordinarily, I'd write it off as such, but…" he trailed off, as Harmony raised her hand and coughed, looking shocked to see blood in her hand.

"Shit…" Ash looked on, his eyes looking despondent. "Did we wake her up just to watch her die?"

"The medical team could still save her, if that guy gets back down here in enough time." He looked up toward the ceiling. "…You're right. I should have killed Vikki. That's the first of two mistakes I've made recently."

"You call it a mistake… everybody else refers to it as, y'know, SANITY." Ash rolled his eyes. "What was the second?" he suddenly asked, taking Kensuke off-guard.

"Huh?"

"That second mistake you made, what was it?"

"…"

"Kensuke…" Ash sighed, wishing his brother would actually open up.

* * *

"SHIT!" Danny shouted, dodging ecto blasts from several different Ghost Policemen as he still carried Sam in his arms. "GUYS! A LITTLE HELP?!" he yelled down to Riku and Wayne, the latter of which smirked, shocking Danny by actually moving his right arm into a familiar position along with his left.

"Got your back, Fenton!" he shouted. "DEVIL HYPERION CANNON!" he shouted, knocking the three guards unconscious with the enormous beam of purple energy.

"Hey… you can use your right arm again!" Danny looked happy for his comrade.

"Yup!" Wayne continued to smirk, letting loose with a Devil Shotgun on even more Ghost Policemen. Afterward, he surveyed the "war torn" area. In addition to the enormous pile of rubble that had been Casper High School, there were scorched patches of earth that had formed due to enemy fire since the surprise battle had started. Across the schoolyard, Zenki and Kitrala surprised Enma by struggling against Vikki, whose rage was turned up to Twelve.

"What do we do, Zenki? If that lightning hits us, it won't matter HOW much higher our Spirit Energy count is than hers!" Kitrala shouted.

"Patience, darling… I have a feeling she's about to tire out." Was Zenki's response, as just then, Shiro pelted Vikki in the back of the head with a large rubber tire, sending her sprawling to the ground. "…Get it? TIRE?"

"…UGH." Kitrala put her hand to her face in exasperation.

"Hey, that was gold and you know it." Zenki smirked.

"If we're done cracking jokes here…" Shiro interrupted, sweeping his arms back to reveal the ghosts flying around everywhere. "We've got a big problem."

"…" Kitrala said nothing, walking over to Vikki. "Didn't expect you to be ballsy enough to attack us. I should kill you…" for a second, Kitrala looked as though she was honestly mulling it over. "…But there are bigger problems now." She then turned to Shiro. "Shiro! Go get Kensuke!"

"Right!" Shiro nodded, then made a mad dash across the battle-ravaged land, dodging several ecto blasts by an extremely narrow margin as he vanished completely from the area.

"Dammit." Cyborg commented. " I couldn't even track that with my tech!" He was interrupted from saying anything further by Robin's shout.

"Cyborg! Outta the way, we're coming through!" he shouted, and Cyborg leapt out of the way as he charged through, riding on top of Beast Boy, who had changed into a rhinoceros.

"DAMN. That's awesome." Cyborg mumbled.

"…Yes. Yes it is." Wayne reluctantly admitted from off to the side.

"Ghost at your 1 o'clock, Cyborg!" Riku shouted, and Cyborg immediately incapacitated the patrolman with a quick blast.

"Thanks man!"

* * *

Meanwhile, in the basement, Ash and Kensuke remained in silence.

"…Enma didn't cause all of this…" Kensuke spoke up suddenly, as the two brothers sat once again by Harmony. "I did."

"What do you mean?" Ash looked at him with confusion.

"I wanted to see what I was up against with Enma… he never once attacked me. He just defended himself as I caused the destruction."

"So I punched him…" Ash responded, in such utter shock that he couldn't finish the sentence.

"…For nothing. All he did was keep himself from dying." Kensuke reiterated. "I couldn't lay a finger on him… truly he's in a class of his own."

"Why did he need us?" Ash asked suddenly.

"I don't know… but I assume it's for a good reason." Kensuke shrugged, and a few minutes of silence passed between them before Ash spoke up again.

"…I couldn't accept you." Ash admitted, closing his eyes. "I couldn't accept the fact that you were my brother."

"Asher—" he cut himself off, in a genuine moment of trying to bond with his little brother.

"It's cool… that's my name, right?"

"Asheron Christopher Raderia. Dad chose your first name, while Mom chose your middle name." Kensuke explained.

"So did they choose your first and middle name as well?" Ash asked.

"No. Our grandfather did before he died. So he chose Kensuke Bariel Raderia." Kensuke sighed, admitting his middle name to Ash for the first time.

"What kind of name is Bariel?" Ash shrugged.

"It means 'indomitable will' in ancient Kamoa nomenclature." Kensuke explained.

"You have a very pretty name." Harmony tried to speak up, but it came out as a pained whisper.

"Pretty…? I just admitted to being the reason you're lying there in agonizing pain." Kensuke said. "At least a hundred students died today because of my actions… you still think I have a very pretty name?"

"This would have happened otherwise." Harmony whispered again. "You or the ghosts, it doesn't matter. Besides, you gave me a chance to meet the newest town hero."

"I'm no hero." Ash sighed. "Heroes prevent things like this." He stared off into the distance. "I'm no hero." He repeated.

"But you've prevented a number of things!" her voice finally rose above a whisper. "I saw you defeat that demon two years ago! You saved everyone in Amity Park!"

"That was then…" Ash trailed off.

"Then he found out we were brothers." Kensuke finished up, looking down. "And that he has to fight a god."

"And that Misty had died." Ash added.

"But you weren't with Misty anymore…" Kensuke protested.

"So that's supposed to mean I don't care that she's dead? Since Shiro wasn't following me before I got the Rift Sword, let me give you a little heads up… Misty's been by my side ever since the day I turned 10 and started my Pokémon journey… I dropped ALL of that to help her find out who she was."

"Mmm… and did that help her in the long run? Did she feel better knowing her past…?"

"…It did." Ash finally smiled. Just then, the three of them were interrupted by Shiro phasing through the ceiling.

"Things are going pretty sour up there, Ken. We need you." He explained.

"…This girl needs help. When we get back up to the surface, go find the ghost kid." Kensuke ordered, as he grabbed onto Shiro. "Ash… hold it together. We'll be back."

"Yeah…" he replied, watching his brother vanish into the ceiling.

"…Will he come back for us?" Harmony asked.

"Probably." Ash said, looking down.

"What were you two talking about over in that corner?" she gazed at her would-be rescuer.

"…It's nothing. Don't worry about it."

"It was obviously important enough to keep from me."

"You're right… Danny needs to get back soon, otherwise…" Ash trailed off.

"Otherwise…?"

"…You're going to die." Ash admitted, causing Harmony's eyes to widen.

"Oh god…" she started to cry. "I don't… I don't want to die…"

"Don't worry… I won't let you." Ash said, a determined look on his face. "Danny's never let me down before."

"He used to be Amity Park's hero, didn't he?"

"He still is. He's a better person than I am." Ash sighed. "I lied to his sister, my girlfriend. I told her everything was okay with me, that my past meant nothing anymore and that I was okay with it."

"You said the same thing to Kensuke just now." Harmony pointed out.

"It wasn't true then either. I don't like raising a sword against my own brother."

"Then don't. Someone else can defeat him, right? What about that man Kensuke mentioned? Enma?"

"Enma was devastated over Kensuke's loss… at least, that's what I gathered from when he'd talk about my brother."

"What do you mean… his loss?"

"I didn't think about it before I said it, but it actually does have a double meaning. The Unmaker killed my dad… and caused Kensuke to go rogue on us. Both of these events happened quite a few decades ago.

"Quite a few decades?" Harmony parroted. "But Kensuke doesn't look older than his early twenties."

"I can't explain why he looks that way, but he's closer to 78." Ash shrugged. "Time's supposed to mean little to a Kamoa." He paraphrased something Kensuke told him when he'd sat down to have lunch with him. "Kamoa can live for an average of two hundred years. I don't know if this applies to half-Kamoa or not."

"Ash…"

"I don't want to find out. I don't want to outlive everyone I know." Ash admitted, his voice almost a ghostly whisper as he stared at nothing in particular. "The only reason I've held it together enough to LIVE this long is because of everyone up there." For emphasis, Ash pointed to the ceiling. "Jazz, Danny, Riku… and even that son of a bitch Wayne."

"It sounds like you have great friends." Harmony mused.

"Yeah… how about you?" Ash turned the tables on the dying girl.

"I don't really have friends." She admitted. "I don't know what that's like. My mom and dad are hardly ever around, so I just kind of stuck to myself."

"Why were you in this basement?" Ash shifted gears, sensing that Harmony felt uncomfortable with the admission of her parents' absence from her life.

"I was dragged down here by Sam… she actually tried to socialize with me. When I mentioned I was interested in becoming a writer, she asked me to help her write a letter for Danny…"

"A love letter, I'm guessing?" Ash commented, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Clearly she wants something BEFORE they graduate. Why she can't just say 'Hey Danny, that relationship we were putting on hold? I want to go ahead with it' is beyond me."

"I don't…" she cut herself off via a coughing fit. As she coughed, a darker colored blood flew into her hand. "I don't know… if I can last much longer, Ash…"

"Don't say that. Danny will come. I know he will! Stay with me… talk about what you wanna do when you get the hell out of this miserable fuckstain of a basement." Ash pleaded.

"I don't know…"

"Okay, what about that interest you expressed in being a writer?" he questioned. "Why don't you get a job on the school paper?"

"Do you think I could?" Harmony asked.

"I'm sure your writing's superb. I know I haven't read it yet, but you can do anything you set your mind to. That's one of the joys of being human."

"Joys of being human…" she laughed a bit, wincing at the pain she was feeling. "Hey Ash…"

"Yeah?"

"What are you… going to do when you get out of here?"

"…I don't know. One thing's for sure. I definitely need to make some changes in my life."

"You should be honest with your girlfriend… has she always been honest to you?"

"…" Ash remained silent, remembering what Kitrala had said earlier. "Every single time. She's been the one person who HAS been honest with me."

"Then don't you owe her your honesty?"

"…You're right. I do. Hey, when we get out of here, you wanna be friends?"

"Sure, I'd love to…" she trailed off, coughing again. After a few moments of silence between the two, she spoke up again. "…If I don't make it, could you go to my address and get my journals? I want to see if they can be published."

"Don't talk like that. You're going to make it!" Ash shouted.

"Could you… take my hand?" she asked, and Ash silently complied. She used up quite a bit of her strength leaning up toward Ash. Into his ear, she whispered something so low that he had trouble making it out at first, but then he gazed on in shock.

* * *

As Danny finally found a time to land and put Sam down, Shiro ran up to him.

"Hey ghost kid, you're needed down below." He mentioned. "Some girl's bleeding to death down there."

"Sure thing… can you cover me? I'm going down!" he shouted, charging full force toward the school. Meanwhile, over where Zenki and Kitrala had been, Kensuke joined them as Vikki finally regained consciousness.

"Damn…" she muttered as she came to, rubbing the back of her head. "I'm alive?"

"The only reason you're alive is to give your brother a message." Kensuke spoke up. "Otherwise, I'd have killed you myself."

"Kensuke…?"

"Tell your brother that he's out of options. If he grovels at our feet, I MIGHT let him join the Warriors of God. Otherwise, he'll be cut down just like the Unmaker will be."

"…" Vikki scowled.

"Also, you're alive to call off this insipid ghost attack." Zenki pointed out. "Give the order… or I may ignore what Ken here wants and murder you here and now."

"…" Vikki remained silent, pulling up a communicator. "All forces… fall back!" In that instant, those ghosts who were still conscious began to pull back and run away, and those fighting let out a loud cheer. "This isn't over, you three…."

"Actually, it is. Give your brother the message I gave you." Kensuke grimaced at Vikki. "GO!" he roared, after Vikki hesitated to leave. "_**NOW!**_"

"Man, Ken… that's the loudest I've heard you get in sixty-some years." Zenki acknowledged his leader/best friend's loud tone.

"Asheron's still down in that basement." Kensuke said.

"Not to worry…" Shiro chimed in, walking up. "I'll get the brat out." Fenton's already going in for the girl…"

* * *

"Hey! I'm back, you gu—" Danny shouted as he phased through the ceiling, but noticed before he even saw the expression on Ash's face that it was too late…

Harmony was dead.

Despite this, Ash still held her hand, slightly shaking his head as he stared angrily at the wall.

"…" Ash remained silent. As Shiro got down to the basement as well, he took in the sight before him. He then turned his communicator on. As Kensuke's image showed up on the screen, he spoke up.

"Ken… we're too late. The girl's dead."

Several hours later, Ash sat in an ambulance being bandaged up from the injuries he'd sustained earlier. Kensuke walked up to him as the paramedics on site finished their bandaging job on him.

"…I hear she made a friend down there. Perhaps her only friend." Kensuke said.

"Doesn't matter now." Ash shrugged, getting out of the ambulance and walking away from the site.

"Of course it does."

"Doesn't it? It doesn't change the fact that she's dead." Ash scowled.

"Come on, Ash… you did what you could." Kensuke said, only to be completely caught off guard by the volume of his brother's response.

"_**NO SHIT! REALLY?! YOU DON'T THINK I GODDAMN KNOW THAT ALREADY?!**_" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "_**I DID EVERYTHING I COULD TO SAVE THAT GIRL AND SHE STILL FUCKING DIED!**_" As he finished, he felt his exertion and the extent of his injuries take its toll as he leaned up against a particularly big piece of rubble, his white shirt being stained with his blood.

"Ash… you're bleeding. REALLY badly. You should go to the hospital." Kensuke looked concerned as he stepped between Ash and freedom.

"Pay attention, cause I'm only gonna say this once…" he growled. "Get the HELL out of my way." He knew what he had to do… it was the only thing he could do, and Kensuke, perhaps out of guilt for what had happened, stepped aside for his brother. Ash angrily stormed off, everyone else there looking shocked at his departure.

* * *

Meanwhile, over at Axiom Labs, Janine walked quietly out of the door, taking notice that Jenny was standing there as she left. "Oh, hey Jenny. What's up?"

"…" Jenny stared onward at Axiom Labs. Janine felt there was something different about the girl, but she was too distracted to tell what it was for the time being. However, she did have the courtesy to ask a question. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." Jenny answered in her normal voice. Janine nodded and walked off, not seeming to notice the red glow in Jenny's eyes…

* * *

Ash arrived home about an hour later –having had to walk from Casper High due to being in too much pain to use his wings—and immediately tossed his keys away, knowing he wouldn't need them anymore. As he passed the kitchen to reach the downstairs bathroom, Delia caught a glimpse of her son, all cut up like he was.

"Oh my god! Ash! What happened to you?!" she nearly shouted, only to really begin to worry as he ignored her, making a beeline for the bathroom instead. "ASH!" she screamed after her son, but it was too late, as he slammed the bathroom door behind him. Seconds later, he turned on the light to the bathroom, focusing into the mirror. He looked at himself in it despondently, feeling a pain that no regular medicine would numb. It was a pain that extended beyond the physical and wounded his very soul, but tonight… tonight he had his ultimate solution to that pain. For only a brief second, he thought of what Harmony had whispered to him before dying…

"…I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise…"

Frowning, Ash punched the mirror, shattering it into hundreds of tiny pieces and injuring his hand in the process. Behind the mirror sat his final solution… a tall, unopened bottle of vodka… and another, and another. He had more than enough here to kill himself via alcohol poisoning. Ignoring how disturbing it was that he had something like this planned in contingency in case his life hadn't worked out, Ash grabbed the glass from off the top of the sink and poured it full of vodka. As he gravitated toward the floor, his shoulder pain flared up again… and there he was. Ash sat in his bathroom floor, using his left hand to clutch a serious-looking wound to his right shoulder. In his other hand, he despondently held a glass full of vodka, as he closed his eyes, drowning out what he thought was his mother's screams and the sound of her loudly banging against the door with her palm. He gasped in pain as he readied himself to down the glass he had in his hand… and was stopped by another voice sounding out.

"Ash…" Jazz spoke up. "Please, let me in."

"Go away, Jazz." Ash sighed. "I lied to you about being cool with my past. You don't want to be around me."

"Yes I do!" Jazz argued. "I took this bracelet partially to save Wayne, but it was mostly so you would trust me enough to tell me everything!"

"…" Ash stared vacantly forward. "Get out of here. You don't need to see what I'm about to turn into."

"You're unbelievable…" Jazz said slowly. "I hoped you'd actually changed back to your old self, but… but… I can't do this!" her voice broke as she broke down into sobs. "I can't handle knowing that the Ash I love is already DEAD!" Was she right? As Ash stared down at the damage he'd done to his right hand upon punching the mirror, he wondered if there was any chance of him turning back to the way he used to be… the Ash that his girlfriend loved, or if he was going to die alone with the knowledge that Kensuke was his older brother, and nothing either of them could do would change that… it was a choice between living and dying, between Jazz and his friends, or his brother… and right then and there, he raised his glass and made the choice…

…to live, as he threw the glass against the wall, shattering it into a million pieces, each too tiny to repair. He got up and opened the bathroom door, grabbing Jazz and pulling her to him, his voice breaking as he did so.

"Don't cry, Jazz…" he hugged her tightly, letting his tears fall as he clung onto her, as though she'd drift away if he let go. "I'm not dead…" he said, causing her to smile through the tears she was shedding. "I just went on vacation… but I'm back now and I REALLY don't give a flying fuck about Kensuke, my dad, or the Unmaker. Just you… and Mom, and my friends."

"What about my parents?" she joked, her voice still recovering.

"…One step at a time." He returned the humor. "Well, your mom's okay. Dunno about your dad though."

"What about the girl down there that died?" Jazz asked.

"Harmony…? I did what I could. No point in beating myself up over it forever." He sighed. "Still, I wish I could have saved her." They hugged for a few minutes before Jazz separated from him with another question.

"How do I know you're not just lying here?"

"Because FUCK MY STUPID-ASS BROTHER, that's why." Ash smirked.

"Good enough for me." She smiled, as they kissed passionately. The kiss deepened as Ash felt lust overcome him. He knew now what he wanted, as he picked Jazz up into his arms, carrying her upstairs, to which the redheaded girl made no objection. He had to use his foot to pry open the door, lest he drop Jazz rather abruptly. As he got in, he used his foot once again, this time to shut the door.

* * *

"So tell me… what did this accomplish again?" Shiro asked, as the Four Warriors of God walked casually into the same diner in which they'd previously met with Vlad and Vikki.

"…" Kensuke said nothing, walking forward and muttering his order to the cashier.

"It sent a message. Wasn't that obvious?" Zenki looked down. "Come on, you've been part of our group for over fifty years. You should've picked up on Kensuke's intent from the start."

Shiro simply responded with a shrug.

* * *

"Do you… regret what we just did…?" Ash gasped for breath.

"No, no… it's not that… it's just… I had never thought about things like this in my life before I met you." Jazz admitted. "Now that it's happened… oh Ash, I love you…"

"I love you too..." Ash put on his most handsome smile for the love of his life, causing Jazz to wipe her eyes and put on her own most beautiful smile for him in return. "So… did you enjoy it?"

"Oh, more than you can imagine."

"I dunno... I've got a pretty vivid imagination when it comes to this." he joked, causing her to elbow him playfully. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. But I'm glad you're happy about this... it means more to me than my own happiness." Ash admitted, as he laid beside her, the two of them cuddling. "Actually..." he corrected himself. "Your happiness is mine."

"And yours is mine..."

"Yeah? Funny how that wor—" he was silenced by Jazz putting her left index finger to his lips. "Ash, dear?"

"Mm-hmm?" he asked, not talking out of respect for the finger, and love for the person said finger was attached to.

"Shut up." She smiled, kissing him full on the lips, and there, at that moment, Ash finally felt complete… whole again. Jazz noticed the content look on his face, smiled even wider, and said "Welcome back, Ash Ketchum."

"Good to be back." He smirked in response, as a final thought entered his mind for the night…

'It's time to get serious... Zenki, Kensuke... I will stop you. For her sake, and everyone else's...'


End file.
